U.S. LNG exports remain high in February

Sabine Pass cargo loading (Image courtesy of Cheniere)

U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports continued to remain high in February following record high levels in the previous two months, according to the Energy Information Administration.

Cheniere’s Sabine Pass liquefaction terminal in Louisiana, first of its kind to ship U.S. shale gas overseas, exported twelve LNG cargoes in December and a record fifteen in January.

The agency said in its latest weekly natural gas report that the Sabine Pass facility exported 15 cargoes in February matching the previous record in January.

Total exported volumes rose slightly in February to 51.8 Bcf of LNG as compared to 51.5 Bcf in the month before, EIA said.

EIA previously said that the U.S. is expected to become a net natural gas exporter by 2018 and the world’s third-largest LNG supplier by 2020.

Cheniere’s Sabine Pass facility became the first operating LNG export facility in the lower 48 states in February 2016 and since then it shipped more than 70 cargoes of the chilled fuel worldwide.

By 2021, four additional LNG export facilities currently under construction in the U.S. are expected to be completed. These five plants would have an operational export capacity of 9.2 Bcf per day in total, according to EIA.

 

LNG World News Staff