Global liquefied natural gas exports hit a new record in the first quarter of 2023, at around 104.5 million tons, up from around 98.5 million tons in the same quarter of 2022, with an annual growth rate of around 6.1%.
According to the OAPEC LNG and Hydrogen Developments Report, this increase is due to the continued growth in demand in the European market, which has resorted to LNG supplies to reduce dependence on gas supplies via pipelines from Russia.
At the level of exporting countries, the United States of America led the world in terms of exports in the first quarter of 2023, as it exported about 21.5 million tons, compared to about 20.3 million tons in the same quarter of 2022. , with an annual increase of about 3.4 million tons.
The report indicated that this increase is directly attributable to the consistent reopening of liquefaction facilities at the Freeport LNG station since mid-February after an eight-month hiatus due to a methane gas leak incident on one of the LNG export lines. In June 2022, after which the station stopped reviewing safety and security regulations. About a month and a half after the relaunch, Freeport LNG exported cargo totaling 1.35 million tons of LNG.
The report assumes that the station’s exports will increase in the coming months after all three liquefaction units at the station operate at full capacity, although exports will continue in this way in the coming months of the current year 2023.
He explained that by the end of this year, the United States is expected to lead the world by a wide margin from the rest of the world after falling to third place in 2022 behind the State of Qatar and Australia due to the Freeport LNG station shutdown accident, which is the second largest LNG plant in the US with a design capacity of 15 million tons per year.
