US Emerged as Net Gas Exporter in 2017: EIA
Lost in the mass of data that accompanied the US Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Short Term Energy Outlook on January 9 was the emergence of the US as a net gas exporter in 2017 – for the first time in at least 60 years.
Gross gas imports, primarily via pipeline from Canada, averaged 8.17bn ft3/day in 2017, while gross gas exports – to Canada and increasingly to Mexico – averaged 8.58bn ft3/day. That left a net export outflow in 2017 of about 410mn ft3/day, compared to net imports of 1.8bn ft3/day in 2016.
As LNG and pipeline exports continue to grow – reflecting steady growth in shale gas production – net export outflows are forecast to climb to 2.3bn ft3/day this year and to 4.6bn ft3/day in 2019, the EIA said.