It’s shaping up to be a drastically different summer for U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporters as the global market has unexpectedly tightened and demand has spiked in a reversal of fortunes from last year when trade slumped to historic lows. 

“Things changed a lot,” said Rystad Energy’s Carlos Torres Diaz, head of gas and power markets. “This time last year, things were very gloomy and really for this year also. There were expectations that the recovery would be slow.”

This year was always likely to be a better one for commodities as the global economy continues to rebound from the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic. The International Energy Agency still expects year/year natural gas demand growth to be modest at 3.2%. But a brutal winter in the Northern Hemisphere...