There she blows

LNG from the US’ lower 48 has set sail on troubled waters

AT LONG last, the first shipment of liquefied natural gas left from Cheniere Energy’s Sabine Pass export terminal on the Gulf of Mexico for Brazil on 24 February, marking the entrance of the US as a major player on global gas markets. Celebrations, though, were muted. New US exporters will have to carve out a role for themselves in a glutted market with a markedly poor short-term demand outlook. Sabine Pass was the first of a wave of five LNG export projects that are under construction and will start exporting the US’ bounty of shale gas riches before the end of the decade. A second train at Sabine Pass will be completed in the coming months followed by trains three and four in six-to-nine m