EQT CEO presses for more US LNG exports: press

More LNG on the global market could help the world economy decarbonise quickly, the head of US-based shale producer EQT Corp. said in an interview published December 20 by the Financial Times.

“We cannot export solar, we cannot export wind, we cannot export nuclear,” Toby Rice, the CEO at EQT, said in the interview. “We should develop all those technologies. But right now, the only thing we can export that will have a tremendous impact on the environment is US LNG.”

EQT operates primarily in the Appalachia shale basin, which incorporates both the Marcellus and Utica shales situated mostly in West Virginia, as well as parts of Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York.

In a late October statement, Rice advocated for more midstream infrastructure to boost US natural gas export capacity.

“Within the last decade our industry, and specifically Appalachia, has leveraged technology and innovation to provide Americans with a low-cost, low-emissions, and reliable energy source,” he said at the time. “With increased pipeline and LNG export capacity, we are capable of delivering that same energy source on the world stage."

Some US lawmakers are calling for a ban on exports of LNG and crude oil to keep more product at home, suggesting doing so would lower energy-related inflation. Consultant group IHS Markit said in a commentary published December 14, however, that doing so would "have a highly destabilising effect both politically and commercially."

Rice echoed that sentiment in his interview with the Financial Times, arguing that opposition to the fossil fuels sector was limiting production of natural gas, which can be viewed as a bridge to a low-carbon future. Should Asian economies secure access to US-sourced LNG, they could use it to replace coal.

“I’m saying it loud and clear. We want to do more, but we can’t — we need pipelines,” Rice said. “We want the world to say ‘Yes, we want this product’.”