Today many LNG tankers leave for Europe where prices have exploded. In the first eight months of the year, American deliveries to the Old Continent increased by 162%. They represent 44% of the European offer compared to 27% last year. France, which has four regasification terminals, was the first destination for a certain period, the energy companies Engie and TotalEnergies have bet heavily on gas made in the USA. The former has recently increased the volumes of a contract and extended its duration from eleven to twenty years.
The second, which is the leading US exporter of LNG, intends to soon expand its plant in Cameron (Louisiana). And to think that fifteen years ago Washington intended to import LNG. In the early 2000s, Cheniere Energy developed a regasification terminal at Sabine Pass in Louisiana. Caught off guard by the massive influx of shale gas ten years later, the company turned it into a liquefaction plant. Export. Other operators have followed suit. “It is the small companies such as Cheniere, Sempra, Venture Global that are at the origin of the LNG boom, indicates the expert Thierry Bros, professor at Sciences-Po. Unlike the majors which have remained on their old schemes, these companies are they fell on stretchers. They asked the administration for permits, sought funding and innovated. They signed good contracts, adding tolls for liquefaction operations.”
Six times cheaper
The result is impressive. In a global LNG market of 450 million tons, the United States has a production capacity of 83 million tons. Their leadership is not about to end. In the coming years, the producers plan to expand five liquefaction terminals. This will add 45 million tons to the total volume. For the United States, gas is a game changer. The war in Ukraine and Brussels’ desire to wean Europe off Russian gas in 2027 have further increased their competitive edge.
Read alsoGas in the Mediterranean: TotalEnergies, pivot of a historic agreement between Lebanon and Israel
«Historically the molecule cost four times less in America than in Europe, says a good connoisseur of the sector. Today it costs six times.’ A gap that will still give wings to American industrialists. “Some are considering making fertilizers and ammonia for export to Europe,” says Anne-Sophie Corbeau, a researcher at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy. From Paris to the Union of energy-intensive industries, we fear a wave of relocations. “Within the groups, there could be arbitrations in favor of American factories that escape rising energy costs,” its chairman Nicolas de Warren said recently. Gas is a cornerstone for the US economy. Not the Wyoming antelopes.
+166%
Increase in US gas deliveries to Europe in the first eight months of the year.
