The US is the main exporter of LNG. China is the leading importer, the EU is dependent on the main players
By Marek Grzybowski
Global LNG (liquefied natural gas) trade has been steadily growing over the past three years after a weak 2021. Seaborne LNG tanker deliveries in 2024 rose 4.4% year-on-year to 148.9 million tonnes, according to LSEG, based on ship tracking data. Almost 30% of US seaborne gas was unloaded at Chinese terminals. China is followed by the EU.
In 2024, US LPG exports rose significantly, almost 11.5% year-on-year to 66.8 million tonnes. The United States accounted for almost 45% of global LNG supply at marine gas terminals in 2024. The world has once again increased demand for liquefied petroleum gas delivered by LNG carriers after LNG deliveries by sea increased by 2.4% year-on-year in 2023 and by 4.4% year-on-year in 2022. In December last year, Kpler experts predicted that “Exports of US liquefied natural gas are on track to reach new records in 2024.”
This was the result of increased activity by American oil companies. Domestic natural gas production increased for the 10th year in a row in the United States. Global demand also increased, and with it the income of producers and exporters of liquefied gas and operators of LNG tankers and banks that financed their construction. Recipients such as Poland paid for everything in dollars.
Source; Kpler, Reures, 2025
Course for Asia
In the period January-December 2024, LNG exports from the US increased by 11.4% year-on-year to 66.8 million tons. LNG exports from the GCC countries (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates) fell by 2.3% y/y in 2024 to 39.4 million tons, including 14.4 million tons from the UAE, 9.8 million tons from Qatar, 7.4 million tons from Saudi Arabia, 5.5 million tons from Kuwait, 2.1 million tons from Oman. Deliveries from the GCC group of countries accounted for 26.5% of global exports. Exports from the EU also fell by 2.0% y/y in 2024 to 5.6 million tons.
The main importer of liquefied gas in 2024 were PRC terminals. China accounted for 23.5% of global LNG imports. China imports increased by 11.5% y/y in 2024 to 34.8 million tonnes. EU imports increased by 11.2% y/y in 2024 to 21.4 million tonnes. EU gas terminals received 14.5% of global LNG volume delivered by sea.
India received 6.6% more liquefied gas y/y, reaching 20.3 million tons of transshipment. Imports to Japan increased only by +0.7% y/y to 10.0 million tons. South Korean gas terminals received 8.2 million tons of LPG in 2024, +6.2% y/y. The terminal in Świnoujście received 61 LNG carriers in 2024, from which over 4.4 million tons of liquefied gas (10.6 million m3) were unloaded. In recent years, operators operating in the United States have taken advantage of the boom in liquefied gas caused by the war in Ukraine. In a short time, the USA became the largest exporter of LNG in the world. 44.9% of global LNG volumes were delivered to the market from American marine LNG terminals in 2024. The high supply of gas from US wells followed a very good 2023, when LNG exports increased by 15% y/y, while in 2022 only a 9% y/y increase was recorded.
New terminals in the American Gulf
American exporters are taking advantage of the economic situation by investing in new export terminals or expanding existing LNG ports. The largest LPG transshipment ports in the United States in 2024 were: Houston (31.1 million tons in the period January-December 2024), Beaumont (15.9 million tons), Freeport (7.5 million tons), Marcus Hook (6.6 million tons), Corpus Christi (1.8 million tons), Ferndale (1.4 million tons), Geismar (0.5 million tons), Ascension (0.4 million tons). 80.4% of 2024 volumes were loaded on VLGCs (70+ m3), 4.5% on LGCs (25-70,000 m3), 11.5% on MGCs (13-25,000 m3) and 3.7% on SGCs (0-13,000 m3).
– Despite the growth in volumes, it was a tough year for the U.S. LNG export sector, which became the world’s largest last year, notes Gavin Maguire of Reuters. Record U.S. gas production, combined with a slowdown in gas demand in key markets, has pushed average U.S. LNG export prices down about 21% this year compared to 2023, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).
From January through September, average LNG export prices were $6.15 per 1,000 cubic feet, the EIA reports. Gavin Maguire compares: “the average price for the same period in 2023 was $7.75, and the average in 2022 was $12.20, when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine caused turmoil in the energy sector and a surge in LNG imports in Europe.”
China on American Gas
Surprisingly, given the ongoing political tensions, the main destination for American LNG is Chinese terminals. Chinese operators captured 29.1% of total seaborne LNG exports from the US in 2024. Volumes on this route have skyrocketed in the past two years. There was a time when LNG trade from the US to China was halted. In 2019, 0.3 million tonnes of LNG were imported from the US.
In 2020, the US became the largest supplier of LNG to China, when 6.2 million tonnes of LNG were delivered by tankers. In 2021, deliveries increased by 11.9% y/y to 6.9 million tonnes. The following year saw a record delivery of 9.2 million tonnes of LNG, up 32.7% y/y. 77.2% more LNG was shipped from the US to China by tankers than a year earlier, and approximately 16.3 million tons of liquefied gas were unloaded at terminals, In 2023.
Volumes from the US to China reached 19.4 million tons, up another 19.2% year-on-year, In 2024, . The European Union came second among global recipients, accounting for 12.9% of US LNG exports in 2024. In 2024, the US exported 8.6 million tons of liquefied gas to the EU, up 19.4% year-on-year. This followed a 4.8% y/y drop in imports in 2023 and a 53.7% increase in 2022. This large increase was due to the fact that EU countries imported only 4.9 million tonnes from the US in 2021. The US exported +6.6% y/y more (6.9 million tonnes) of liquefied petroleum gas to South Korea in 2024. Exports to Japan increased by 1.2% y/y to 6.4 million tonnes.
European Union dependent on gas supplies from the USA
The dependence of EU countries’ supplies on Russian supplies is clearly decreasing, and on sea transport of LNG from American terminals is increasing. This is happening despite the fact that the average utilization rate of LNG import terminals in the EU fell from 58% in 2023 to 42% in 2024, according to a report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA). In 2024, 135.1 billion cubic meters of LNG were imported to EU countries, the United Kingdom, Norway and Turkey. The largest, 46% of European LNG imports in 2024 (62.8 billion cubic meters), came from the USA – imports from this country fell by 18% last year. In 2024,
US LNG imports to the EU fell to 51 bcm from 62 bcm in 2023 – Anne-Sophie Corbeau on the Center of Global Energy Policy blog and explains: “The lower EU LNG imports were due to a combination of high storage levels in 2024, strong pipeline imports and flat gas demand in the EU, as well as a redirection of US LNG to more lucrative Asian markets.” Despite this, the EU is still a significant importer of US LNG, and the two markets are strongly intertwined. “Higher US LNG imports to the EU are likely to materialize in 2025 for two market reasons that have nothing to do with politics,”
Corbeau predicts. He justifies this by saying that “US LNG exports will certainly increase as two new liquefaction plants (Plaquemines and Corpus Christi Stage 3) come online in 2025.” The EIA predicts that US LNG exports will increase by 17 percent in 2025. The EU will need to import more LNG to compensate for the suspension of Russian gas transit via Ukraine on January 1, 2025 (which in 2024 amounted to about 15 billion m3) and to replenish EU storage, which was 20 billion m3 lower year-on-year in mid-February 2025.
Poland imported 6.4 billion m3 in 2024, the same as a year earlier. From January to November, it spent €1.1 billion on LNG imports from the US and €650 million from Qatar, according to a report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA). In 2024, Poland imported almost 56% of its LNG from the US and about 38% from Qatar.
Corbeau notes that “American LNG will only reach EU countries if spot prices in the EU are high enough to redirect it from Asian markets to Europe. This was visible in early 2025. This happened as a result of very high gas prices in Europe. The situation on the market may also be changed by retaliatory Chinese tariffs on American LNG. The American tightrope dance will therefore also have an impact on the situation on the liquefied gas market in Europe and Asia.