BG: US LNG exports could reach up to 70 mtpa by 2025

LNG player BG Group believes that the US could become an exporter of 60 to 70 mtpa of LNG by 2025, Andrew Walker, the company’s Vice President of Global LNG said.

“US exports will be a major contributor to (LNG) supply growth, but so too will projects in western Canada and eastern Africa. All will need to be developed to meet customer demand in the high-growth LNG markets of Asia in this timeframe – and BG’s planned export projects in these countries are very well placed to be part of this supply,” Walker said in a report posted on BG’s website.

The report also suggests that the global LNG market is not  heading towards a period of oversupply:

“First is extremely unlikely that all of the announced US projects will be built. As has been demonstrated in past supply-growth cycles, only those projects with established, well-capitalised developers with LNG experience tend to be built.

“Second, demand for LNG is expected to remain strong. Industry experts estimate growth of around 5 percent per year until 2025, requiring the development of up to 150 mtpa of new LNG supply above that which is already under construction.”

Out of approximately 30 LNG export projects that have been announced in response to US shale gas discoveries, BG Group has an interest in two of the largest and most advanced projects: Sabine Pass and Lake Charles.

Both are planned to produce and ship LNG before the end of the decade, taking advantage of a widened Panama Canal that by the end of 2015 is expected to shave a week or more off voyages from the US Gulf Coast to Asian ports.

“The value driver of US LNG exports is the spread between US natural gas and global LNG prices,” said Betsy Spomer, BG’s Senior Vice President of Global Business Development.

“Before entering into agreements to buy LNG from Sabine Pass and partner with Energy Transfer on the development of Lake Charles, we took a careful look at project economics and projections of future gas and LNG prices. We believe the size of the US natural gas resource and the liquidity of the US natural gas market make these projects look good – now and into the future,” Spomer added.

LNG World News Staff, August 6, 2014; Image: BG