European demand has kicked the US LNG industry into high gear, but its capacity is too low and the climate is being caught in the crossfire.
As Europe weans itself off Russian energy as punishment for Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, the continent's demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG) has soared to unprecedented levels.
The US is now the world's largest exporter of natural gas, yet political, economic and technical limits prevent the country from being its full-on savior. While the industry is booming, lacking export capacity is bottlenecking supply to Europe and the rest of the world.
Meanwhile, climate groups insist the LNG export boom is a destructive way to deal with the energy crisis, and other paths are available to ensure global climate goals are met...
To meet Europe's natural gas demand, the US has solidified its spot as the world's largest LNG exporter in the first half of 2022, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).
The country's average daily export surged 12% in the past six months to 11.2 billion cubic feet (bcf) per day.
Displacing Asia as the top importer of US LNG, the UK and EU received 71% of those exports — and are paying a premium. Poorer nations like Brazil or Bangladesh haven't been able to compete with Europe at current cargo prices. Some exporters have even broken contracts with poor countries to reroute fuel to Europe, reaping higher profits despite penalties...
While President Joe Biden promised in March to export more LNG to Europe, the industry is already maxed out. Additionally, due to reliance on pipelines from Russia, much of Europe lacks sufficient import infrastructure even if America could export more LNG.