With robust demand from both Europe and Asia for U.S. supplies of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and strong levels of pipeline deliveries to Mexico, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecasted that U.S. gas exports would exceed imports by an average of 11.0 Bcf/d in 2021. That would mark a nearly 50% jump from the 2020 average of 7.5 Bcf/d.

EIA also said in its August 2021 Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) that, for the first time since LNG exports from the Lower 48 began in 2016, annual send-outs of the super-chilled fuel this year are expected to outstrip pipeline exports — by 0.6 Bcf/d.

“We forecast total U.S. natural gas exports to continue to grow throughout 2021 and 2022, exceeding the record of 14.4 Bcf/d set in 2020,” EIA researchers said in a note Monday...