LNG chapters on the rise in 2024 global energy tome

While the situation across the offshore energy arena was vastly different a year ago from today’s state of play, liquefied natural gas (LNG) is forecast to continue to display its resilience in the face of the whiplash stemming from the tariff turmoil affecting not only the oil and gas sector but also other energy markets. Offshore Energy has gone back in time to make a collection of some of the most important LNG developments and deals that market 2024.

Many, including the CEO of QatarEnergy, continue to have high hopes for the future of LNG, as it is believed that this transition fuel will continue to be among the dominant sources of energy supply for years to come.

Wood Mackenzie recently underlined that LNG prices are expected to feel the pressure arising from the current investor uncertainty and turbulence with demand toned down, but the drop in oil prices and an imminent wave of U.S. LNG project start-ups are anticipated to have the potential to keep the Henry Hub resilient.

Despite the geopolitical challenges stemming from the trade wars and tariff threats, Wood Mackenzie finds a silver lining in an opportunity for LNG importers in Europe and some Asian markets to mitigate the impact of tariffs by buying more U.S. LNG, underpinning investment in new projects.

Thanks to a nod from the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), Gulfstream LNG was cleared to embark on the pre-filing permitting process, kicking off the regulatory review for the proposed 4 million tons per annum (mtpa) modular export facility in Louisiana, United States.

A new stepping stone for Phase 1 of the Alaska LNG project was obtained with an initial gas supply agreement that laid out the main terms for a binding contract that would enable the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation-led LNG project to get gas from Pantheon Resources’ oil and gas fields. Glenfarne Alaska LNG has since signed on the dotted line to become the majority owner of the LNG export project and spearhead its development.

ADNOC Group expanded its low-carbon energy footprint in the U.S. and boosted its LNG arsenal, with agreements for LNG offtake and an equity interest in NextDecade‘s Rio Grande LNG (RGLNG) export project in Texas to meet growing gas demand.

The UAE player also widened its LNG portfolio by acquiring Galp’s upstream assets in Mozambique, encompassing the entrance into the Rovuma supergiant gas basin and an interest in Eni’s Coral Sul FLNG offshore facility.

While strengthening Shell’s LNG position, the acquisition of Pavilion Energy is expected to enable “additional access to strategic gas markets in Asia and Europe. By integrating these into Shell’s global LNG portfolio, Shell is strongly positioned to deliver value from this transaction while helping to meet the energy security needs of our customers,” according to Zoë Yujnovich, Shell’s Integrated Gas and Upstream Director.

Eni was making progress in putting all the pieces in place to bring its new 2.4 million tons per year (mtpa) FLNG unit online in the fourth quarter of 2025 as part of its LNG project offshore Congo. The firm’s spokesperson underlined: “Once the modules have been lifted onto the hull, it will move on to the integration, commissioning and gas trials phases, and in Q3 2025 the FLNG will sail to Congo for the start-up phases scheduled for Q4 2025.”

Malaysia’s Genting entrusted Wison New Energies with the task of building Indonesia’s first floating LNG (FLNG) unit, described as the ninth one in the world. This unit will receive 230 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) of natural gas for 18 years. The feed gas for the new FLNG facility is expected to be supplied from the Asap, Merah, and Kido structures within the concession area of the Kasuri Block in West Papua, Indonesia.

Kimmeridge took over the lion’s share of ownership in a proposed LNG export terminal project near Cameron, Louisiana. The final investment decision is expected in the first half of 2025 for the Commonwealth LNG 9.5 mtpa LNG export facility. Following the return of President Donald Trump to the White House, this became the first major U.S. LNG project to receive an export authorization for non-free trade agreement (non-FTA) countries since the Biden-Harris administration’s freeze on LNG export permit approvals.

With a final investment decision (FID) out of the way, a floating LNG facility with a nameplate capacity of 3.3 million tons per annum on Canada’s West Coast is expected to start operations in late 2028. Haisla Nation and Pembina Pipeline Corporation have highlighted the benefits of the current location of Cedar LNG as one of the shortest shipping routes to key Asian markets, with the Douglas Channel leading to and from the site offering an established, reliable shipping route and deepwater marine inlet with year-round ice-free conditions.

Aramco widened its LNG arsenal in the U.S. through a deal, which is expected to be ironed out soon, enabling the Saudi giant to get offtake and a stake in a natural gas liquefaction and export terminal expansion project in Southeast Texas.

While FortisBC outlined that a project, envisioned to enable trans-oceanic vessels to refuel with liquefied natural gas at the Port of Vancouver, was given the go-ahead by the Canadian government, the Shell-led LNG Canada project in Kitimat, anticipated to be Canada’s first large-scale LNG export facility and one of the largest energy projects in its history, celebrated the final weld on its first production train.

According to a joint venture, encompassing Shell, Petronas, PetroChina International, KOGAS, and Mitsubishi Corporation, the introduction of the first natural gas and flaring activities at Canada’s first large-scale LNG export facility represented “a pivotal step” in LNG Canada’s start-up program, with first LNG cargoes anticipated by mid-2025.

An LNG shipment was received in April 2025 for testing at the project’s export terminal in Kitimat, Canada’s British Columbia. However, the country still had seven LNG export projects and one infrastructure project in various stages of development last year, with a potential capital investment of nearly $109 billion and a production capacity of 50.3 mtpa of LNG.

ADNOC Group’s new partners in a project described as the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region’s first clean energy-powered LNG export facility are BP, Mitsui & Co. (MOL), Shell, and TotalEnergies. With the construction of its first non-state-owned LNG terminal out of the way at South Korea’s Gwangyang port, Posco International Corporation is eyeing the second one in 2026 to fortify the country’s energy security.

The achievement of the first LNG production from New Fortress Energy‘s floating LNG facility, made up of three repurposed jack-up rigs offshore Altamira, is said to represent “the fastest large-scale LNG project ever developed,” which is expected to assist in creating a new FLNG hub off the east coast of Mexico. United States-sourced LNG will be exported to Mexico and other FTA countries.

Afterward, New Fortress Energy sent the first LNG cargo from its installation. Since the start-up was originally expected to occur at the beginning of the second quarter, the delays in placing the FLNG project into service were estimated to cost the firm approximately $150 million per quarter in lost operating margin.

Technavio forecasts growth in the global FSRU market over the next four years as a result of the rise in LNG demand and efforts to stop oil price volatility at a time when climate change is dictating the countries’ accelerated pivot to low-carbon and clean sources of energy.

NextDecade offered Bechtel Corporation a multibillion-dollar deal it could not refuse, thus, the U.S. player will handle the construction of Train 4 and related infrastructure for a huge LNG export project at the Port of Brownsville, Texas.

Cheniere Energy‘s 20-year LNG offtake deal with Galp was seen as a positive sign for the pending final investment decision for the second train of the Sabine Pass Liquefaction (SPL) expansion project, known as Train 8. If green-lighted, the project will release a fresh flow of LNG to quench Europe’s energy thirst.

After a seven-year hiatus, a proposed gas transmission project in northern British Columbia, Canada, is getting a new owner as TC Energy opted to sell the project to NW Infrastructure Limited Partnership, a joint venture between Canada’s Nisga’a Nation and Western LNG.

The partners are not wasting any more time, as they have proposed changes to the pipeline route, which expand the corridor before entering Nass Bay, adding a 9.4-kilometer reroute within the bay, and shortening the pipeline to end at the proposed Ksi Lisims LNG project on Pearse Island, rather than on Lelu Island, where it was envisaged to terminate in the original project route.

Eagle LNG Partners managed to obtain an extension to complete the construction of its proposed small-scale LNG facility in Jacksonville, Florida. While the previous deadline was slated to end in September 2024, the new one provides the developer with some breathing room, as it has until September 19, 2029, to wrap all the work up.

In a bid to fire up the world’s first LNG export facility, aiming to reach net zero emissions by 2027 with 250,000 m3 of floating storage capacity, Woodfibre LNG embarked on blasting activities to lay the groundwork for the future installation of the planned 2.1 million-ton-per-year export terminal near Squamish, Canada’s British Columbia. Construction progress has since continued further.

While Venture Global LNG started production at its second LNG plant in Port Sulphur, Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, Cheniere Energy kicked off LNG production at the next chapter of its Corpus Christi LNG facility in Texas.

As climate change generates more heatwaves, the blame for its devastating effects on people and the environment continues to be placed on the fossil fuel industry’s shoulders by activists. As a result, attempts to take down existing coal, oil, gas, and LNG projects and prevent new ones from springing up are gaining ground, despite energy security concerns and predictions that LNG, as the cleanest of all fossil fuels, will play a vital role as a bridge fuel in the energy transition journey to a more sustainable future.

A win for opponents of LNG projects was achieved in the United States, as two such export projects, owned by NextDecade and Glenfarne Energy Transition‘s Texas LNG at the Port of Brownsville, Texas run into setbacks last year in the form of a court ruling, which vacated the previous authorizations and sent them back to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

NextDecade withdrew its application for a proposed carbon capture and storage (CCS) project in Texas from the FERC. The project was expected to assist in slashing carbon emissions at the U.S. player’s LNG export terminal under development at the Port of Brownsville.

Things changed in 2025, as the Trump administration decided to reverse the so-called restrictions that were placed on the LNG industry by the previous administration. Before tariff threats left their mark on the energy market, 14 multibillion-dollar projects were estimated to be on the U.S. LNG export approval menu, bringing America to the $1.3 trillion gross domestic product (GDP) promise spotlighted in a recent S&P Global study.

Zachery‘s bankruptcy move brought the construction activities to a halt at an LNG export terminal project in Sabine Pass, Texas, which ExxonMobil and QatarEnergy are developing. As the former lead contractor on Golden Pass LNG managed to sort out the issues to enable its exit from the project, the short-term construction plan was expected to give way to a long-term construction completion one between Chiyoda Corporation and CB&I to proceed to bring the project online in late 2025.

After Crown LNG moved the timeline for a final investment decision, delaying it from late 2024 to Q2 2025, for its planned floating LNG import terminal in Scotland’s Firth of Forth, which will be developed with an FSRU, ExxonMobil also postponed the FID for its liquefied natural gas project off the coast of Mozambique, which is now anticipated in early 2026.