Biden’s LNG pause is a short-term gambit [Gas in Transition]
Biden’s LNG pause is a short-term gambit [Gas in Transition]
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Natural Gas News
Biden’s LNG pause is a short-term gambit [Gas in Transition]
Summary
Economic and environmental re-assessments of whether US LNG exports are in the public interest could well show the commodity in a better light than the studies conducted in 2018 and 2019. by: Ross McCracken
Having moved into the number one spot as the world’s largest LNG exporter, President Joe Biden has hit the pause button on new permits for LNG projects. It is a confidence knocker for the industry and for those many countries around the world pinning their hopes on LNG for improved energy security and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions via coal-to-gas switching. However, it is only a pause, one designed to play to environmentally-minded voters ahead of the presidential elections this November. No major policy shift Biden has not announced a policy shift. If he wins a second term, a decision on LNG permits will hang on the new economic and environmental analyses requested of the Department of Energy (DoE) regarding whether further LNG export capacity is in the public interest. In any case, the decisio...
Related Knowledge Center: Liquefied natural gas
Driven by plentiful natural gas produced from shale plays, the United States began exporting liquefied natural gas in 2016 when the Sabine Pass terminal in Louisiana opened and shipped its first cargo. Since then, additional capacity, or trains, have been added to Sabine Pass, and terminals have become operational in Cameron Parish, La.; Hackberry, La.; Cove Point, Md.; and Corpus Christi, Texas. The Energy Information Administration projects that U.S. LNG export capacity will reach 8.9 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) by the end of 2019, making it the third largest in the world, behind Australia and Qatar. The tariff war with China has the potential to impact some final investment decisions for additional terminals in the coming months.