Exports

A new pattern is developing in the natural gas trade across North America, with shale supplies from the United States marching into both Canada and Mexico to an emerging seasonal rhythm.

Canadian natural gas exports to the United States likely shrank last year to the lowest volume since 1994, according to the National Energy Board (NEB).

Growth in North American natural gas traffic is migrating south to Mexico from Canada, according to the latest trade scorecard of the United States Department of Energy (DOE).

It was 50 years ago this month that the Methane Princess delivered the world’s first commercial liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo from Algeria to the United Kingdom. Much has changed since, and notably, Algeria could see its profile as an LNG supplier grow while European consumers increasingly turn to the fuel as an alternative to pipeline gas from Russia.

Warnings from some who claim sending too much U.S. natural gas overseas could cause severe domestic price spikes are short-sighted and don’t account for global supply and demand dynamics, or the cumulative effect exports could have on the U.S. economy, according to a group of panelists.

U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) will strengthen Europe’s bargaining position with Russia and help create a more diverse global gas market, but they won’t solve the current crisis in Ukraine or free Europe from Russian gas, and they are unlikely to cause the Kremlin to change its foreign policy, according to Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy.

As global demand for oil slows, surging U.S. shale and light tight oil (LTO) production is causing Saudi Arabian and West African crude oil exports to be diverted elsewhere, while U.S. gasoline exports to the world market are expected to rise, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

A flood of proposed pipeline capacity along with liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports will spur demand toward convergence with booming supply between 2025 and 2030 and driving U.S. economic growth, several natural gas experts told an industry group in Chicago Monday.

Yet another would-be exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from British Columbia (BC) has joined the applicant queue at Canada’s National Energy Board (NEB).