Growth in global LNG export capacity will be limited in 2023

New LNG export projects that are expected to come online in 2023 include:

• The Greater Tortue Floating LNG (FLNG) production unit located offshore Mauritania and Senegal (0.3 billion ft³/d capacity).
• The Tango Floating LNG production unit located offshore the Republic of Congo (0.1 billion ft³/d capacity). The Tango FLNG was previously used to produce LNG in Argentina in 2019 – 2020.
• Tangguh LNG Train 3 in West Papua, Indonesia (0.5 billion ft³/d capacity), which will expand the existing project.
• Sengkang LNG in South Sulawesi, Indonesia (0.1 billion ft³/d capacity). This project was designed to include four liquefaction trains, each with capacity of 66 million ft³/d. However, construction has started on only the first train, and the completion timeline of the project has been extended several times.

In 2022, three new LNG export projects with a combined capacity of 2.2 billion ft³/d came online in the US, Russia, and Mozambique. In the US, Calcasieu Pass LNG with a peak production capacity of 1.6 billion ft³/d started production from its 18 mid-scale liquefaction trains. In Russia, Portovaya LNG (0.2 billion ft³/d capacity) started production in the summer and loaded its first LNG cargo in September 2022. In Mozambique, Coral South Floating LNG production unit 1 (capacity 0.4 billion ft³/d) loaded its first cargo in November 2022.

In the last 11 years (2012 – 2022), Australia and the US led the growth in global LNG capacity by adding a combined 22.7 billion ft³/d of LNG export capacity that accounted for 75% of the total global capacity additions over this period.

Regionally, countries in Africa—Algeria, Angola, Cameroon, and Mozambique—built 2.7 billion ft³/d of new LNG export capacity over this period, while Russia added 2.6 billion ft³/d. Countries in the Asia Pacific region (excluding Australia) added a combined 2.4 billion ft³/d of LNG export capacity.

The US began exporting LNG in February 2016, and within seven years developed the world’s largest LNG export capacity, overtaking Australia and Qatar, with seven LNG export facilities totaling 13.9 billion ft³/d of peak production capacity.

In 2024 – 2025, the EIA expects fewer global LNG export capacity additions than in previous years. US LNG export capacity is expected to grow as three projects currently under construction are completed. One LNG export project in Russia — Arctic LNG 2 — which started construction in 2017, has been delayed and is now tentatively targeting 2023 – 2026 for bringing its three LNG trains online. New LNG export projects in Canada and Mexico are also expected to be placed into service by 2025 – 2026.