US powerhouse in the making

The LNG building boom is just getting underway. When it's done, the US will be the largest exporter in the world

First there was Qatar, then Australia. The next liquefied natural gas super producer will be the US. The American Gulf Coast is seeing a boom in the construction of new export facilities that will be fed by the nation's vast shale gas reserves. The wave of US LNG coming to the market started to build in 2016 when the first train of Cheniere Energy's Sabine Pass plant came on line, followed shortly thereafter by the second train. That project put US LNG on the map. In 2017, Trains 3 and 4 at Sabine Pass were completed, giving the US 18m tonnes a year of export capacity. Actual exports for 2017 were 12.24m tonnes. About a quarter of that went to Asia, another quarter to markets nearer to home