America’s LNG Boom Faces Its Biggest Test Yet
A decade ago, the United States was only beginning to emerge from an energy outlook that had once assumed steadily rising dependence on imported natural gas. For years, the prevailing concern was that domestic…
Japan to Overtake China As World’s Top LNG Importer This Year
Robert Rapier is a chemical engineer in the energy industry. He has 25 years of international engineering experience in the chemical, oil and gas, and…
A decade ago, the United States was only beginning to emerge from an energy outlook that had once assumed steadily rising dependence on imported natural gas. For years, the prevailing concern was that domestic production would struggle to keep pace with demand, leaving the country increasingly reliant on liquefied natural gas brought in from overseas. That expectation proved badly wrong. Horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing unlocked enormous shale gas resources, domestic production surged, and facilities originally designed to receive imported LNG were instead converted into export terminals.
The transformation happened quickly. Cheniere Energy shipped the first large-scale LNG cargo from the Lower 48 out of Sabine Pass in 2016, and by 2023 the United States had become the world’s largest LNG exporter. U.S. LNG exports increased to a record 15.1 billion cubic feet per day in 2025, and the U.S. Energy Information Administration now forecasts that exports will average 17.4 Bcf/d this year and 18.6 Bcf/d in 2027. EIA also expects U.S. LNG export capacity by 2031 to be nearly double the level that existed at the end of 2025.
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