Following the publication on December 17th, 2024, of the 2024 LNG Export Study: Energy, Economic, and Environmental Assessment of U.S. LNG Exports by the United States Department of Energy (DoE), the International Gas Union (IGU) hereby makes the following preliminary remarks:

i) Scenario assumptions about natural gas consumption, including LNG global exports and imports, do not accurately predict worldwide energy and gas demand, as stated and argued in IGU’s 2024 Global Gas Report. Underestimating that demand, underinvesting or otherwise restricting additional LNG supplies can be highly detrimental for economies that are largely gas-importing.

ii) Amid these huge uncertainty ranges (as indeed acknowledged by the aforementioned DoE report), the global LNG trade (including that of US LNG) provides an invaluable source of flexibility, energy security and energy access to multiple global regions, including a Europe that is still dealing with the aftereffects of the significant reduction of Russian imports.

iii)             Restricting additional US LNG exports would also have a negative environmental effect since such restrictions would reduce the scope for Gas to displace high CO₂ emissions fuels such as oil and coal. Coal production levels are already at record high and, as noted in the recently released International Energy Agency’s (IEA) Coal Report, the world’s coal demand will reach the alarming figure of 8.77 billion tonnes by the end of 2024, less than two weeks away.

iv) It is our firm belief that Gas, in all its forms, including LNG, is essential to human progress and global growth as it can replace higher carbon-emitting fuels such as coal, and provide economic growth opportunities to developing and underserviced markets. Many of our members are fully committed to decarbonising the gas supply, cutting methane emissions by 30% by 2030, and scaling up zero and low-carbon gases and CCUS.

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For further information, please contact ella.minty@igu.org, Communication Director or Neill.Tannock@igu.org, IGU Senior Policy Advisor. Tel. +44 7918 110344.