The US Department of Energy issued a final rule aimed at expediting approval of small-scale natural gas exports.
The July 26 Federal Register notice applied to gas and LNG exports to countries not having a free-trade agreement with the US of no more than 51.75 bcf/year, which qualify for a categorical exclusion under DOE’s National Environmental Policy Act regulations.
Prior to the new rule, which will take effect on Aug. 24, DOE said it had to conduct a public interest review before authorizing such exports.
For applications meeting these criteria, the new rule will consider them as “small-scale natural gas exports” deemed to be in the public interest under the 1938 Natural Gas Act. Gas exports to countries with a qualifying FTA already are already deemed in the public interest under the law.
Small-scale US gas exports primarily go to the Caribbean and Central and South America, DOE said. Many countries in these regions do not generate enough gas demand to support the economies of scale required to justify LNG imports from large-scale terminals via conventional tankers, it said.
The small-scale export market developed as a solution. For example, said DOE, one US company, American LNG Marketing LLC, has exported more than 145 cargoes of small-scale shipments from its facility in Florida to both Barbados and Bermuda in the past 2½ years, it noted.
Responding to the announcement, Charlie Riedl, executive director of the Center for Liquefied Natural Gas, said the rule will let US LNG suppliers better serve customers in the region. “This flexibility will benefit our citizens in Puerto Rico and improve our competitive position in the LNG market,” he said.
