The EU runs away from Russia and turns to the American LNG

Europe became the leading destination for US liquefied natural gas (LNG) last year as many European countries cut gas imports from Russia, an Anadolu Agency analysis said.

The US has increased its share of global LNG trade from 1% in 2016 to 21% by the end of 2023 to become the world's largest exporter of LNG. They exported 84.3 million tons of liquefied natural gas to world markets last year.

Australia followed with 78.9 million tons and Qatar with 78.5 million tons.

The US made its first export to the world LNG market in 2016, and its share has gradually increased with each subsequent year. In 2017, exports accounted for a 5% share of the market, and then increased to 7% in 2018, 10% in 2019, 13% in 2020, 18% in 2021 and 20% in 2022. Mr.

Last year, the global supply of LNG increased by 2% to 395 million tons, representing an increase of 7.3 million tons compared to the previous year.

According to CEDIGAZ data, the US has been the largest driver of global LNG supply not only in 2023 but also for the past five years.

Notably, total supply from non-US regions remains stagnant from 2019 to 2023.

In 2023 alone, the US increased its exports to 84.3 million tons, contributing 6.7 million tons to the growth of global LNG supply.

The growth in US exports was largely due to the commissioning of the Freeport LNG plant in the first quarter of 2023, which was closed due to a fire in June 2022.

The EU's Escape from Russia

Last year, the main destination for US LNG was Europe, which reduced its purchases of natural gas from Russia.

American LNG was a solution for many countries in Europe that were opposed to buying natural gas from Russia and had imposed an "embargo" on their exports.

Due to mild weather and declining demand over the past two winters, Europe has not faced supply constraints and decided to replace Russian LNG with American.

Of the liquefied natural gas exported by the US, 67% was sold to Europe, 25% to Asia, 7% to South and Central America, and 1% to other countries.

The country that imported the most liquefied natural gas to the world market is China - 70.5 million tons. Japan followed with 66.1 million tons and South Korea with 44.2 million tons.

The largest importers of LNG in Europe are France with 21 million tons, Spain with 17.2 million tons and the Netherlands with 15.7 million tons. Imports of liquefied natural gas in Turkey decreased by 7.7% on an annual basis to 10.5 million tons. /BGNES