Bloomberg News reports that natural gas is still behind coal and oil in terms of the energy it generates across the globe. Nevertheless, it is gaining in stature. As Europe is striving hard to reduce its dependence on Russian gas, following the Ukraine invasion, gas has assumed the prominence of an essential geopolitical fuel at present.
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This has put the largest producer of natural gas the United States in a crucial and exciting position. Here, gas production has escalated by about 80% since 2006. This was facilitated by fracking or hydraulic fracturing, which made drillers work efficiently in Texas, Pennsylvania, and other places to extract large quantities of oil and gas from the shale deposits.
In the beginning, almost all of the gas supply was used for electricity generation, with coal being supplanted with gas in 2016, which became the top power source of the country. However, the same year also witnessed the completion of the first of many facilities, mainly along the Gulf Coast, which liquefies natural gas and pumps the same into waiting for ships sent for export.
Currently, around 16% of the production goes abroad, mainly by LNG tankers. And till date this year, the United States has been neck and neck alongside Qatar for earning the title of the top LNG exporter in the world.
According to Bloomberg News, the exports will likely be a godsend for Europe, and they are bound to be suitable for the gas and oil industry. However, for the consumers in the United States, there is a catch though. Since transportation of natural gas is not easy, its pricing differs from one part of the world to another. Ever since the boom of hydraulic fracturing began, US prices have continued to be well below the average globally. The surge in the export of LNG has introduced a new group of consumers already in the habit of paying more, which also implies that the gas users in the United States will shell out more.
