Zeus: Gulf Coast Dominates Volumes, Number of Facilities for LNG Export

For all the discussion on LNG export opportunities across North America, the U.S. Gulf Coast is the center of announcements and developments. Since 2010, projects, including world-scale and small-scale, have pursued authorization. This focus is a result of advantages afforded by existing infrastructure, growing feed-gas supply from five prolific shale-gas basins, skilled labor and attractive politics. Several Gulf Coast project developers will offer insights, Dec. 11 and 12, at North American LNG Exports 2013 in Houston. 

“While other regions may have the advantage of closer proximity to markets, like Asia, developers along the U.S. Gulf Coast are moving ahead,” noted Zeus Development Corporation LNG trade analyst George Popps. “Currently 42 projects across North America are in varying stages of LNG export pursuit. Some 23 of these are on the U.S. Gulf Coast, ranging from 0.02 bcfd (140,000 tonne per year) intermodal LNG container projects to 3.0 bcfd (20 million tonne per year) behemoths.

The result is the Gulf Coast represents about two-thirds of total LNG export volumes from North America. Western Canada follows a distant second at 12 percent.

“The question in the mind of many is how export capacity will be authorized and built,” said Popps. “How many and what volumes of LNG exports are subject to the U.S. Department of Energy’s interpretation of what is in the ‘public interest.’ It will be interesting to see how far the DOE is willing to go.”

Dec. 11 and 12, the North American LNG Exports conference will examine this and other key trends.

[mappress]
LNG World News Staff, November 26, 2013