The U.S. was responsible for the single largest supply increase among exporting nations last year, with a 52% Y/Y jump of 25.3M metric tons to reach 73.6M tons total.
Output from the U.S. passed Qatar in December due largely to a jump in exports from the LNG export plants at Freeport and Sabine Pass, where Cheniere Energy (NYSE:LNG)said last month it achieved its first cargo from a new production unit.
High export volumes were fueled by strong demand in Asia, home to top LNG importer China, and Europe, whose need for gas nearly tripled benchmark futures prices there in the two months prior to late December and led some U.S. cargoes toward the continent and away from Asia.
Leaders in the U.S. oil and gas industry have emphasized the soaring demand and the need to help allies in defending LNG exports against calls by some congressional Democrats for President Biden to ban exports of fuel commodities.
Meanwhile, U.S. natural gas rallied 2.7% Friday to settle at $3.916/MMBtu (NG1:COM) as weather forecasts turned a bit colder, reflecting "a winter withdrawal season that has thus far proved very mild in the U.S. and allowed what had been more worrying levels of storage prior to the end of the injection season to catch up," RBC Capital Markets says.
Also, a quarterly survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City says energy firms it surveyed would need to see an average natural gas price reaching $4.27/MMBtu to cause increased drilling levels, while crude oil needs to reach $73/bbl before they ramp up drilling.