US gas imports tumble as shale booms

Imports fall to the lowest level in more than 20 years as companies line up to export the country's shale bounty

The shale boom continues to reshape the US energy landscape and global gas trade. The country’s natural gas imports plunged by nearly a quarter last year, driven by “unprecedented levels of domestic natural gas production” and rising exports, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in a recent report. Net US gas imports fell 23% to around 1.5 trillion cubic feet (cf) in 2012, the EIA said, the lowest level since 1990. Both pipeline and liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports tumbled, with piped imports falling by 5% to 2.96 trillion cf, and LNG imports declining by half to 175 billion cf. Around 94% of US gas imports arrived via pipeline from Canada and Mexico. Pipeline imports from