Global Markets: Mexico, Korea, China and Chile are the top buyers of US LNG

Latin America and Asia-Pacific are continuing to be the preferred regions for shipments of US liquefied natural gas (LNG), the latest data from the Department of Energy shows.

US LNG export volumes reached 555.1 billion cubic feet (Bcf) in the period from February last year, when Cheniere’s Sabine Pass liquefaction plant in Louisiana started shipping the fuel, to August 2017, the data shows.  These exports also include LNG exports in ISO containers from Miami, Fla. to Barbados.

In total, 171 cargoes of US LNG landed in 25 different countries in the period under review. Some of these cargoes were split between two destinations.

Mexico remained the dominant buyer of LNG from Cheniere’s Sabine Pass plant, currently the only such facility to ship U.S. shale gas overseas, with 39 cargoes or 129.6 Bcf – almost one-quarter of the total volumes shipped in the period.

South Korea took 15 cargoes while 13 cargoes landed in China, with both countries receiving the same amount of 49 Bcf, each, in the February-July period.

Chile took 16 US LNG cargoes in the period but the volumes were smaller reaching 48.1 Bcf.

During the month of July, the Sabine Pass facility shipped 16 cargoes with export point prices ranging from the smallest price of $3.53 per MMBtu to the highest price of $6.02 per MMBtu, the DOE data shows.

South Korea and Mexico took 4 of these cargoes, each, while two landed in China. Spain, Egypt, Portugal, Brazil, Kuwait and Chile received one US LNG cargo in July, each. (LNG World News Staff)