A U.S. industrial trade group said Washington's domestic focus should prioritize the retention of natural gas, rather than target it for the export market.

As a candidate, Donald Trump ran under the slogan of "Make America Great Again." As president, he's steered efforts to put U.S. national interests first. Paul Cicio, the president of the Industrial Energy Consumers of America, said in a letter to U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry that stance should extend to liquefied natural gas.

"It is time for the U.S. Department of Energy to put American residential and industrial consumers first by establishing a moratorium on further LNG export approvals to non-free trade agreement [NFTA] countries, and put consumer safeguards in place," he said in a statement.

The United States in 2009 passed Russia to become the largest natural gas producer in the world and more exports are likely once more LNG processing facilities start operating. There's only one facility in the United States with the necessary permits to export gas in the super-cooled liquid form. The company that runs it, Cheneire Energy, made a European debut in June when it shipped LNG to Polish Oil & Gas, known by its acronym PGNiG.

A special permit is needed to ship LNG to countries without a U.S. free-trade agreement. Though shying away from a Pacific trade deal, the Trump administration made a decision in May to let China negotiate for U.S.-sourced LNG.

A report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration found the United States could be the third-largest exporter of liquefied natural gas in the world by the end of the decade. The industrial trade group said annual EIA assessments of natural gas supply and demand suggested the market could be tightened by a robust LNG export policy.

"These scenarios give justification to the halt of further LNG export approvals of shipments to countries [without a free-trade agreement]," the group said.

Like crude oil, the market price for natural gas remains low. A separate report from consulting firm Deloitte found the natural gas market will have to stay lower-for-longer in order to keep U.S. gas competitive on the international market.

"Export growth could be limited as global natural gas markets are in a state of flux with a glut of capacity that could potentially last until the early 2020s," its report read.

Tweet

Oil prices move up on good data, but ceiling may be approaching
Washington (UPI) Aug 16, 2017
Crude oil prices were relatively steady early Wednesday as reports of a decline in U.S. crude oil inventories balanced against sentiment of an emerging ceiling. Crude oil prices were moving higher in overnight trading after the American Petroleum Institute reported U.S. crude oil inventories declined a whopping 9.2 million barrels last week. Traders keep a close watch on inventory level ... read more

Related Links
All About Oil and Gas News at OilGasDaily.com

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only