EIA Projects Average U.S. LNG Exports to Increase by 1 Bcf/day in 2018

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) has released its monthly Short-Term Energy Outlook.  EIA projects that LNG gross exports will average 3.0 Bcf/d in 2018, up from 1.9 Bcf/d in 2017, as U.S. liquefaction capacity continues to expand.  EIA expects Dominion Energy’s Cove Point LNG terminal under construction in Lusby, Md., to ramp up to full capacity and, at the Elba Island LNG facility under construction near Savannah, Ga., 6 of the 10 small modular trains, each with a capacity of 0.03 Bcf/d, are expected to enter service. The first liquefaction train (capacity 0.7 Bcf/d) under construction at the Freeport LNG terminal on Quintana Island, Texas, is also expected to come online by the end of 2018.  EIA projects gross LNG exports to average 4.8 Bcf/d in 2019 when the four remaining modular trains to be constructed at Elba Island come online and the remaining two trains to be constructed at Freeport LNG enter service. Two trains under construction at the Corpus Christi Liquefaction terminal at Corpus Christi, Texas, and three trains under construction at Cameron LNG’s terminal in Cameron Parish, La., are also expected to enter service in 2019.  EIA forecasts exports will ramp up in the second half of 2019 to an average of 5.5 Bcf/d, up from 4.1 Bcf/d in the first half of 2019.