Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – The war that Russia waged on Ukraine a year ago has shifted the global energy supply chain and put the United States (US) at the top of the world’s energy exporting countries.
As Europe struggles with threats to its supply of natural gas imports from Russia, US exporters and others are rushing to divert their liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes from Asia to Europe. This is because Russian oil has been subject to sanctions, and the European Union (EU) no longer accepts Moscow’s sea cargo.
This resulted in a surge in shipments of US crude and refined oil products to Europe.
“The US used to supply military weapons. Now it supplies energy stores,” said John Kilduff of Again Capital, quoted from CNBC InternationalSaturday (4/3/2023).
Since World War II, the US has become less important as an energy exporter. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) said a record 11.1 million barrels of raw and refined product were exported per day in the week ending February 24. According to Citigroup, this amount exceeds the total production of Saudi Arabia and Russia.
“It’s amazing to think through decades of concern about energy dependency to find the US is the largest exporter of LNG and one of the largest exporters of oil. The US story is part of a larger energy re-mapping of the world,” said Daniel Yergin, co-chair of S&P Global.
“What we are seeing now is a reimagining of the world’s sustainable energy that began with the shale oil revolution (shale oil) in the United States. … By 2003, the US is expected to be the largest importer of LNG.”
Yergin said the changing role of the US oil and gas industry in the world energy order will be a topic of conversation among the thousands attending CERAWeek, S&P’s Global energy conference in Houston from March 6-10. Speakers at the conference included the CEOs of Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Baker Hughes, and Freeport McMoRan.
Meanwhile, US energy imports accounted for around 30% of total US consumption in 2005.
“There is a global LNG boom that is becoming more evident and visible in the market,” said Pickering. “We have changed who consumes crude and what products. We have completely changed where Russian oil is going,” said Daniel Pickering, chief investment officer at Pickering Energy Partners.
(luc/luc)
