The United States has become the world’s largest LNG exporter, while China again surpassed Japan as the biggest importer last year, according to Kpler. 

U.S. LNG exports jumped 6.4% year-over-year in 2023 to 81 million tons (Mt), pushing the country above Australia as the world’s top exporter, Kpler data show. U.S. output in 2023 was aided by Freeport LNG’s return to service after an explosion knocked it offline in mid-2022. 

Australia struggled with strikes and unplanned outages last year, whenKpler showed it exported 80.9 Mt, but it remained the top LNG supplier to leading markets in China, Japan and South Korea.  

Australia’s LNG exports are forecast to drop to 79 Mt by next year due to regulatory issues that are expected to inhibit new gas developments, according...