“What the invasion of Ukraine has done is take one of the world’s three major natural gas producers out of the picture for future planning,” said Sharif Sookie, chief executive of Tellurian, a gas company building an export terminal in Louisiana. . “No one will rely on Russia in the future. Now the United States has the opportunity to become a power plant for natural gas. “
European countries have expressed their intention to end their dependence on more than 150 billion cubic feet of annual Russian gas imports, in part through imports of an additional 50 billion cubic feet of LNG, about 50 percent more than it currently imports.
This will not be easy, as the global LNG market is only 523 billion cubic meters per year, nearly 20 percent of which already goes to Europe. New liquefied natural gas export terminals are appearing online in the United States and Qatar, but demand is growing even faster, especially in Asian countries, which are trying to alleviate air pollution from coal burning.
This leaves the United States, although several of its gas fields have insufficient pipeline capacity and have attracted several large boreholes because prices have been so low until recently.
Following the Russian invasion, the Biden administration pledged to increase liquefied natural gas exports to the European Union by 15 billion cubic feet, or approximately 40 percent. That’s only about a tenth of Russia’s supplies to Europe, but U.S. energy experts say U.S. companies could produce and supply much more gas with more pipelines and export terminals.
Export operations are expanding in the United States, with three new terminals expected to be completed by 2026. Another 10 await permits, long-term buyers and investors. EQT, a leading gas producer, has called on the country to quadruple its liquefied natural gas capacity by 2030, a proposal that has received widespread support from industry.
“We have the resources in the ground,” said David Brasiel, CEO of RBN Energy, an analytical firm. “And we could develop them if you have an indication from the administration that they want to develop natural gas resources.”
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