The United States has remained the largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG) so far in 2024, but a steep drop in selling prices and a sharp swing in export volumes to key markets is likely testing exporter appetite to stay on top.
The United States shipped a record 56.9 million metric tons of LNG during the first eight months of 2024, according to Kpler.
That surpassed the 54.3 million tons from Australia and 53.7 million tons from Qatar during that period, and marks only the second straight year that U.S. exporters have topped global export rankings.
However, a more than 25% drop in average LNG export prices during the first half of 2024 from the first half of 2023 dealt a heavy blow to export revenues, which dropped by $4 billion from the opening half of 2023 to $13.2 billion, data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) shows.
That was the lowest half-year revenue total since the first half of 2021, and marks a more than $12 billion fall from the second half of 2022 when U.S. export earnings from LNG peaked.
The challenge of sharply falling revenues was compounded by a sharp reconfiguration in export volumes to key markets, which saw shipments to relatively close markets in Europe drop by more than 20% while sales to more distant Asia rose by over 40%.
Continued muted LNG demand in Europe and further growth in Asia may test the resolve of U.S. exporters to remain the world’s largest LNG sellers, as several far-flung Asian markets can be more cheaply supplied by other sellers.
Europe’s sudden jump in demand for LNG since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 snarled natural gas pipeline flows to the region has been the main catalyst behind the ascendancy of the U.S. LNG export industry.
From 2018 through 2021, U.S. LNG exports to Europe averaged around 15 million tons a year, according to Kpler, but jumped to around 55 million tons annually in 2022 and 2023 as Europe’s power firms scrambled to replace lost Russian gas by whatever means necessary.