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The United States beat out both Australia and Qatar to become the largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in 2023, with an average of 11.9 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in exports last year, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Monday.
Strong demand in Europe, the return of Freeport to full operations, and high utilization rates helped America raise its LNG exports by 12% annually in 2023 compared to 2022, per data from the EIA’s Natural Gas Monthly.
The U.S., with average LNG exports of 11.9 Bcf/d last year was well ahead of its closest rivals, Australia and Qatar, whose exports each ranged from 10.1 Bcf/d to 10.5 Bcf/d annually between 2020 and 2023.
U.S. LNG exports set monthly records at the end of last year, at 12.9 Bcf/d in November, followed by 13.6 Bcf/d in December. The EIA has estimated that utilization of U.S. LNG export capacity averaged 104% of nominal capacity and 86% of peak capacity across the seven U.S. LNG terminals operating in 2023.
Similar to 2022, Europe including Turkey was the top destination for U.S. LNG exports in 2023, accounting for 66%, or 7.8 Bcf/d, of all U.S. exports last year, followed by Asia with a 26% share, and Latin America and the Middle East with a combined 8%, according to the EIA data.
Europe continued to rely on U.S. LNG to replace the lost pipeline gas from Russia and raised significantly its LNG import capacity last year to welcome more cargoes.
The countries that imported the most U.S. LNG were the Netherlands, France, and the UK, with a combined 35%, or 4.2 Bcf/d, of all U.S. LNG exports.
In the medium to long term, however, the U.S. leadership in LNG exports could be challenged by Qatar, which is betting big on major expansion projects to boost its export capacity by 85% by 2030 from current levels, while the Biden Administration has paused new permit approvals to review the current criteria.
