The US Department of Energy (DOE) has completed the final step of its 2024 LNG export study and will resume issuing final orders for projects looking to ship LNG to countries that do not have a free trade agreement with the US (non-FTA).
Former president Joe Biden's administration paused the issuance of non-FTA licenses in January 2024 and commissioned DOE to study the impact of increased LNG exports on "the public interest". The DOE released the study in December, a month before Donald Trump returned to office, and recommended guardrails for the approval of LNG export licenses.
But Trump's DOE concluded that the complete record of the study — which includes a 90-day public comment period that ended in March and the DOE's response to comments published today — finds that LNG exports are indeed in the public interest of the US.
"LNG supports our economy, strengthens our allies, and enhances national security," said Tala Goudarzi, principal deputy assistant secretary of DOE's Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management.
The response to comments "will allow DOE to close out this chapter and fully return to regular order on LNG exports", she said.
Today's order paves the way for DOE to issue final orders permitting non-FTA exports after resuming conditional approvals in February. Kimmeridge's 9.5mn t/yr Commonwealth terminal and Venture Global's 28mn t/yr CP2 plant in Louisiana both received conditional licenses this year.
DOE said it received over 100,000 comments on the December study, including from the natural gas industry, industrial users, environmental organizations, think-tanks and academics. In response to those comments, DOE found that US natural gas supply is sufficient to meet both domestic and global demand and that higher LNG exports would have "relatively modest impacts" on prices for US consumers.
The department also concluded that a higher volume of US LNG exports would benefit the US trade balance, a key metric of Trump's trade agenda.
In response to environmental concerns, DOE said that while the production, processing and transportation of natural gas has environmental effects, addressing such concerns would be outside the agency's authority.
