The US (excluding Alaska) exported its first ever LNG cargo in February with the start-up of shipments from the first two 4.5mn tons/year trains at the Sabine Pass facility in Louisiana. And volumes from the US Gulf will soon become a flood, with over 14mn t/y more capacity (equivalent to 19bcm/year or 1.8bn cfd of gas) set to start up in 2017 to be followed by a whopping 40mn t/y in 2018 and 2019.
Excluding a small plant in Alaska which is slated to be decommissioned, the US will go from zero at the start of 2016 to 63.5mn t/y (80.6bcm) – over 80% of the capacity of current world number one Qatar – by the end of 2019 (see table). (CONTINUED - 1244 WORDS)
