US overtakes Australia in LNG exports
Major shipowner says US could become world’s largest LNG exporter.
By Marc Allen
American LNG exports have overtaken Australia for the first time and look likely to continue, according to Flex LNG’s chief executive, Oystein Kalleklev.
US exports hit 6.6m tonnes in May and were carried aboard 95 LNG carriers. In contrast, Australia exported 5.9m tonnes and Qatar, 7m tonnes.
Ralph Leszczynski of shipbrokers Branchero Costa told TradeWinds: “This is all about American exports surging, not about Australian ones having any problems.”
See also: Qatar planning to corner world LNG market
US exports were up 31.5% between January and May of this year, compared with the same period last year.
“If we look at the year so far, then the US is still in third place with exports of 29.6m tonnes, behind Qatar with 33.4m tonnes and Australia with 32.8m tonnes,” Leszczynski said.
