Qatar, Australia, and the United States alone accounted for more than 60% of global LNG exports in 2023.
In 2023, 20 countries exported liquefied natural gas (LNG) worldwide, including 10 in Africa and the Middle East. As a reminder, transporting natural gas in this liquefied form, at a temperature of around -161°C, reduces the volume of the gas by a factor of around 600.
The United States, the world’s leading LNG exporter in 2023
Australia became the world’s leading LNG exporter in 2020, with the ramp-up of new projects (such as Prelude FLNG), before Qatar regained its position as the leading exporter.
However, in 2023, the United States became the world’s leading exporter of liquefied natural gas (3rd in 2022).
Five countries alone exported three-quarters of the volumes of LNG transiting in the world in 2023 (including 60.4% from 3 countries):
The United States: 21.1% of global LNG exports in 2023 (with 84.5 million tons exported); Australia: 19.8% (79.6 Mt); Qatar: 19.5% (78.2 Mt); Russia: 7.8% (31.4 Mt); Malaysia: 6.7% (26.8 Mt).
Followed by Indonesia (3.9%, 15.6 Mt), Nigeria (3.2%, 13.0 Mt), Algeria (3.2%, 13.0 Mt), Oman (2.8%, 11.4 Mt), Papua New Guinea (2.1%, 8.4 Mt), Trinidad and Tobago (1.9%, 7.7 Mt), United Arab Emirates (1.3%, 5.0 Mt), Brunei (1.1%, 4.6 Mt), Norway (1.1%, 4.4 Mt), Angola (0.9%, 3.7 Mt), Peru (0.9%, 3.7 Mt), Egypt (0.9%, 3.6 Mt), Equatorial Guinea (0.7%, 2.8 Mt), Mozambique (0.7%, 2.7 Mt) and Cameroon (0.4%, 1.5 Mt).
A maritime facade
All LNG exporting countries, by definition, have a maritime facade: the transport of LNG by LNG carrier makes it possible to partially overcome geographical and geopolitical constraints.
Note that the island of Trinidad and Tobago, the 11th largest LNG exporter in the world, does not have gas pipelines connecting it to neighboring countries and can only export natural gas in liquefied form at present. Focus on American LNG
The very strong growth of the United States in the LNG market should be emphasized (21.1% of world exports in 2023, compared to 12.6% in 2020). The United States has commissioned many liquefaction facilities since 2018 (Cameron, Corpus Christi, Cove Point, Elba Island, Freeport, etc.) to increase exports of part of its shale gas production in liquefied form (the first delivery of American LNG to the European Union took place in April 2016 in Portugal).
The conflict in Ukraine has greatly accelerated this movement: European imports of American LNG increased by 153% in 2022 compared to 2021. Where does the demand for LNG come from?
Nearly 65% of global LNG demand in 2023 came from Asia, with the main importing countries being China (17.6% of global LNG imports), Japan (16.5%) and South Korea (11.3%).
Europe accounted for around 30.2% of global LNG imports in 2023, with France being the leading European importing country along with Spain.
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