The EIA has estimated the U.S. is now the largest global crude oil producer, likely surpassing both Russia and Saudi Arabia. In February, U.S. crude oil production exceeded that of Saudi Arabia for the first time in over two decades. In June and August, the U.S. surpassed Russia in crude oil production for the first time since February 1999.
The U.S. DOE also announced that on Sept. 6, 2018, a short-term order was issued to the Freeport LNG project to export up to 2.14 Bcf/d of natural gas as LNG over a two-year period to both free-trade and non-free trade agreement countries. This order authorizes Freeport’s initial commissioning volumes and other exports pursuant to short-term contracts. Freeport LNG will be exporting the LNG from the Freeport LNG Liquefaction Project, currently under construction on Quintana Island, Texas.
Freeport LNG will be authorized to export LNG to any country not prohibited by U.S. law or policy.
During this two-year authorization period, Freeport LNG will be authorized to export LNG to any country not prohibited by U.S. law or policy. The twoyear export term will become effective on the date of the commencement of the facility’s first export of LNG, currently projected to be in Q3 2019.
The recent short-term authorization issued to Freeport LNG is not additive to any of the prior long-term export authorizations DOE has issued to the Freeport LNG Project. Rather, the recent short-term order issued to Freeport LNG allows for additional flexibilities to export LNG pursuant to short-term contracts and for the initial commissioning volumes from the project. Freeport will also still be able to export LNG pursuant to its long-term authorizations from DOE.
Since exports of U.S. LNG began in 2016, over 1.3 trillion cubic feet of U.S. natural gas has been exported. U.S. LNG has now landed in 30 different destinations in Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, South America, North America and the Caribbean. EIA expects natural gas exports to average 9.9 Bcf/d in 2018, up 15 percent from 2017 levels. EIA also expects natural gas exports to rise by an additional 38 percent in 2019 to 13.7 Bcf/d.
To date, the DOE has approved 21.35 Bcf/d of long-term exports of natural gas to any country in the world not prohibited by U.S. law or policy. There are currently two large-scale LNG export projects in operation, Sabine Pass and Dominion Cove Point, which have a combined export capacity of approximately 3.5 Bcf/d. Freeport is one of four additional large-scale LNG export projects expected to be completed over the next two years. Once these four projects are completed, U.S. LNG export capacity is expected to reach approximately 11 Bcf/d. There are over a dozen largescale export projects under review that would provide over 20 Bcf/d of additional export capacity if approved.
For more information, visit www. eia.gov or call (202) 586-8800.