America’s Shale Gas Heads to East Asia for First Time

[IsailedawayfromFR]

East Asia, which imports more liquefied natural gas than any other region of the world, is preparing to receive its first supplies from America’s shale bounty.

A tanker that loaded liquefied natural gas at Cheniere Energy Inc.’s export terminal in Louisiana is bound for the Far East, according to an official at tanker owner Maran Gas Maritime Inc. who asked not to be identified because he isn’t authorized by the company to speak on the record. The company that chartered the vessel, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, has yet to say exactly which country and buyer will receive the cargo, he said.

The shipment to East Asia is a long time coming for a market once pegged as the most likely destination for U.S. shale gas. Instead, most of the cargoes that have left Cheniere’s LNG terminal since exports began in February have landed in closer-by Latin America. An expansion of the Panama Canal stands to change that, with more than half of U.S. LNG export capacity slated to be online by 2020 contracted to Asian buyers, based on a Bloomberg New Energy Finance analysis.

“The Panama Canal opens an entirely new transit route for Asia, rather than going around South Africa or the Horn,” Ted Michael, an LNG analyst for energy data provider Genscape Inc., said by telephone from Boulder, Colorado. “We will see more of this in the future.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-27/america-s-shale-gas-is-heading-to-the-far-east-for-first-time

quite a change in the last few decades.  I worked in the '80s trying to bring LNG here to US and now we are exporting it.  What a turnabout.

[thackney]

quite a change in the last few decades.  I worked in the '80s trying to bring LNG here to US and now we are exporting it.  What a turnabout.

I think the Freeport Texas LNG terminal only imported enough LNG to bring it online before they began on the export phase of the project.  I did a little work with the facility at two different companies, first the import phase, then the export phase.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

I think the Freeport Texas LNG terminal only imported enough LNG to bring it online before they began on the export phase of the project.  I did a little work with the facility at two different companies, first the import phase, then the export phase.

That is ironic.  You could be a taxing authority, collecting money no matter if from the supplier or the consumer.