Here’s how the United States overtook Russia with LNG exports. And China…
In 2023, the United States, already a superpower producing oil and gas, became the world's leading exporter of LNG: how much did the war in Ukraine have an impact? China, however, is the largest buyer of liquefied fuel
In addition to being the largest producer of oil and natural gas, the United States also became the world's top exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in 2023, surpassing Australia and Qatar.
UNITED STATES, AUSTRALIA AND QATAR: THE TOP LNG EXPORTERS IN 2023
Last year, America exported 91.2 million tons of LNG, according to Bloomberg data. This is a record volume, made possible above all by the reactivation of the large Freeport LNG terminal in Texas, which was closed for several months after a fire that broke out in June 2022.
In 2023, Qatar , which in 2022 had been the largest exporter of LNG, saw its exports contract by 1.9 percent – the first drop since 2016 -, placing it third in the ranking of the top sellers of the liquefied fuel. In fact, in second place is Australia, whose volumes remained stable between 2022 and 2023.
WILL AMERICA STRENGTHEN ITS POSITION IN 2024?
In 2024, the United States could further strengthen its position thanks to the entry into operation of two new plants: that of Plaquemines in Louisiana, owned by the Venture Global company; and the Golden Pass plant in Texas, operated by a joint venture between ExxonMobil and the Qatari oil company QatarEnergy. In total, once full capacity is reached, the two facilities will add another 38 million tons to America's LNG output .
– Read also: LNG, here are the US companies that will (perhaps) sell it to Europe. The role of Blackrock
THE ROLE OF WAR IN UKRAINE
With the start of the war in Ukraine and European plans for energy separation from Russia – clearly the bloc's top natural gas supplier until 2021 -, American LNG exports to the Union have grown significantly: in 2022 they more than doubled compared to the previous year, going from 22 to 56 billion cubic meters. For comparison, in 2021 the European Union had received 155 billion cubic meters of gas from Russia.
In June 2022, for the first time in history , the European Union imported more LNG from the United States than piped gas from Russia.
The invasion of Ukraine has certainly changed the energy context in the Old Continent and has improved – as Stephen Stapczynski, an expert energy journalist recalled – the feasibility conditions of some US LNG projects which perhaps would not have seen the light, and which they will open in the next few years. But the terminals that allowed America to become the world's largest fuel exporter in 2023 came into operation well before the war in Ukraine began.
Furthermore, before the European energy price crisis, US LNG was mainly directed to Asia, for reasons of greater convenience. Today the main destination is the Old Continent, which last December attracted 61 percent of total exports; Asia's share, in second place, was 26.6 percent.
Although it is true that the United States has long been trying to convince European countries to reduce their dependence on Russian gas and increase purchases of American gas, the White House has no authority to tell national companies where to sell and at what price: the free market. Companies, after all, are not interested in geopolitical calculations but in profit; and they do not answer to the government, but to investors.
CHINA IS THE LEADING IMPORTER OF LNG
In 2023, China was the largest importer of LNG: purchases amounted to 71 million tonnes, 12 percent more than the volumes of 2022, when high energy prices and anti-coronavirus restrictions had caused a decrease the question considerably.
Import levels in 2023 are lower than those in 2021, but forecasts still say that Beijing will be a major driving force in demand for liquefied gas in the coming years: according to Rystad Energy, Chinese LNG imports will reach 84 million tons by 2025 and 136 million tons by 2030. It could be a problem for Europe, which has increased its dependence on LNG as a replacement for Russian fuel and which could therefore find itself competing with China to grab the supplies available on the market.
Last year, China imported 17 percent of all LNG cargoes, while Western Europe imported 26 percent. Natural gas, however, has a high growth potential in the Chinese energy mix: its share is just 8.5 percent but it could increase to replace the more emitting coal-fired capacity.
– Read also: Why China will warm itself with US liquefied gas
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/energia/stati-uniti-primi-esportatori-gnl-2023/ on Fri, 05 Jan 2024 09:36:21 +0000.