Technological breakthroughs enable us to tap into the plethora of natural gas resources available on the planet but also allow us to develop new energy sources.
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) production has surged in the United States over recent years, and with the increased need for LNG around the globe exports are set to rise exponentially.
Here, boldbusiness.com looks at the bold impact the United States has made on the natural gas industry through LNG production.
According to Business Facilities, the United States, less than one hundred years ago the world’s largest importer of energy resources, “is set to become the largest LNG exporter in the world.”
Not only has the development of new technologies and techniques used for shale extraction improved, but LNG has opened the door for other emerging markets.
If the demand for exports of LNG continues, it could see “five to seven years of unprecedented growth in demand for domestic natural gas, with the potential of an increase of as much as 20 billion-25 billion cubic feet a day by the end of the decade”.
This ‘supply and demand’ trend enables the nation’s LNG production and export to secure the United States as the global leader in the natural gas industry.
As U.S. energy producers outpace domestic demand, it gives owners of reserves the opportunity to “raise asset values sharply, and simultaneously provide a huge boost for the service industry”. Thus, driving the economy and developing a resource that will help generate and stimulate many new markets.
The key to LNG success is to ensure the market can sustain itself by absorbing increases in demand while still managing to keep the prices low – this is what makes this resource attractive after all.
The Energy Information Administration (EIA)’s forecasts “production increases in the second half of 2016 and through 2017 in response to forecast increases in prices and in liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports. Forecast natural gas production rises by 0.6 percent in 2016 and by 3.0 percent in 2017.”
Exports to all countries that have a free-trade deal with the United States are set to increase over the coming years, which could also see Russia’s grip on the European market diminish.
According to the EIA, U.S. exports to Mexico have accounted for more than half of all natural gas exports since April 2015, and projects that LNG gross exports will rise by the end of 2016 and again in 2017.
This natural gas boom has seen the emergence of LNG production and exports rise at a rapid rate. It just goes to show that investing in new technologies and creating bold ideas to stimulate a nation’s energy market can prove beneficial in both the short and long-terms.
