U.S. Natural Gas Heavyweights Launch Coalition to Export More LNG

EQT Corp., the largest U.S. natural gas producer, has teamed up with midstreamers TC Energy Corp. and Williams to establish a coalition that will focus on increasing American LNG exports to help displace dirtier fuels abroad and lower greenhouse gas emissions.

The Partnership to Address Global Emissions, or PAGE, would help develop and promote policies aimed at developing the infrastructure needed to increase liquefied natural gas production and export it. The partnership has four core objectives, including replacing foreign coal with U.S. natural gas, helping to meet emissions targets under the Paris Agreement, solidifying the security needs of U.S. allies and increasing energy supplies to limit inflationary impacts.

U.S. natural gas has a crucial role to play in the global clean energy transition, providing secure baseload power to eliminate higher emitting coal, while reducing dependence on Russian gas, especially in Europe, said Progressive Policy Institute adviser Paul Bledsoe. In turn, the U.S. must continue to drive down methane emissions from gas so that American natural gas is the cleanest in the world.

EQT, TC Energy and Williams are PAGEs founding members. Think tanks, including the Progressive Policy Institute, trade unions and academia would also serve on an advisory council and provide guidance to the coalition and its members.

The coalition is being launched at a time of unprecedented change in the global energy market in the wake of Russias invasion of Ukraine. The war has upended trade flows and jeopardized energy security during rampant inflation that has also impacted the global economy. European nations and others across the world have moved to diversify natural gas supplies in particular.

There is an urgent need to expand existing efforts to reduce carbon intensity and environmental impacts across the oil and gas value chain to ensure that these energy sources can continue bolstering supply security while contributing to decarbonization targets, said the Atlantic Councils Richard Morningstar, founding chairman of the Global Energy Center.

The industry and public sector have tremendous opportunities to support this work through scaling up the deployment of innovative technologies, such as carbon capture, storage and utilization, methane emissions reduction solutions, and initiatives to integrate hydrogen into the energy systems.

U.S. LNG production and exports have increased exponentially since 2016, when they began from the Lower 48 states. The Energy Information Administration forecasts U.S. LNG exports to average 11.2 Bcf/d in 2022, a 14% increase from 2021.

LNG exports are expected to average 12.7 Bcf/d next year, according to the EIA. Peak U.S. export capacity is also on track to exceed 18 Bcf/d by 2025.

About 20 U.S. LNG terminals have been proposed, approved by regulators or are under construction. But pipeline constraints and permitting delays could ultimately slow or stop some of those projects from happening despite the Biden administrations pledge to send more LNG to Europe in the coming years.

All we need is the greenlight to build the infrastructure that will let us get natural gas from where it is produced to where it can be used, said EQT CEO Toby Rice.