US LNG eases European storage crisis

The US is set to play an even larger role in the global gas market this year, with the country gearing up to overtake Australia as the world’s largest LNG exporter

Record volumes of US LNG will reach gas-starved Europe in January, thanks to rising liquefaction capacity and flexible destination clauses. This will help alleviate the market tightness caused by cold weather, below-average storage volumes and lower-than-usual Russian pipeline imports. But uncertainty persists over whether US LNG will continue to head towards Europe this summer, and how much impact it could have on the region’s restocking efforts. Set for 2022 top spot The US exported 18pc of the world’s 383mn t of LNG last year, making it the third-largest producer after Australia and Qatar. An annual record of 70.4mn t was exported from the country’s six liquefaction terminals in 2021, acc