U.S. LNG projects poised to resume following Trump's export permit restart
Jan. 21, 2025 5:05 PM ET
By: Carl Surran, SA News Editor
 lyash01/iStock via Getty Images
U.S. natural gas futures finished lower Tuesday as traders looked past the current cold temperatures across much of the U.S. to forecasts for a warmup in early February.
"Longer term temperature forecasts are warming substantially," ROK Financial's Dennis Kissler said, and "most traders are viewing the updated weather forecast as a near-term downer for demand."
While today's temps should be the coldest of the winter, pipeline nominations suggest freeze-offs at 6B-8B cf/day "are not as bad as feared, likely allowing physical pricing to beat a rapid retreat," according to Eli Rubin of EBW Analytics.
In the U.S., front-month Nymex natural gas ( NG1:COM) for February closed -4.8% to $3.756/MMBtu, its lowest settlement since January 9; in Europe, benchmark futures settled +4.5% at €50.0/Mwh, the highest since January 2, after Germany signaled it may subsidize the refilling of storage sites, prompting spot demand for the fuel and further driving a seasonal price spread.
ETFs: (NYSEARCA: UNG), ( BOIL), ( KOLD), ( UNL), ( FCG)
On Day 1 of his new administration, President Trump lifted the U.S. moratorium on new liquefied natural gas export licenses and again called for the European Union to buy more U.S. oil and gas to avoid tariffs.
The U.S. already is the world's largest LNG exporter and shipped 88.3M metric tons of the gas in 2024, and this year alone, three new plants - Venture Global's Plaquemines LNG plant in Louisiana; Cheniere Energy's ( LNG) phase 3 expansion in Corpus Christi, Texas; and the long-delayed Golden Pass LNG joint venture in Texas between Exxon Mobil ( XOM) and Qatar - should add nearly 50M tons/year to U.S. capacity.
These projects that were affected by the Biden administration's halt to new permits and which could now be in a better position to move forward due to Trump's decision: Sempra's ( SRE) Port Arthur, Texas, expansion; Cheniere's ( LNG) Corpus Christi 8 and 9; Commonwealth LNG in Louisiana; Venture Global's CP2 project in Louisiana; Energy Transfer's ( ET) Lake Charles LNG facility in Louisiana; Glenfarme's Magnolia LNG in Louisiana; Gulfstream LNG in Louisiana; Argent LNG in Louisiana. |
