(Reuters) – Exports of liquefied natural gas from the U.S. fell in January to 11.3 million metric tonnes – down from December’s record of 11.5 MT – as a winter freeze late in the month shuttered some plants and lowered output at others, preliminary data from financial firm LSEG show. Gas flows into U.S. LNG plants fell to a one-year low on January 26. Freeport LNG in Texas, the third-largest exporter in the country, was partly offline during the freeze, while Kinder Morgan’s Elba Island facility in Georgia imported LNG from Trinidad and Tobago after it stopped taking in feedgas during the week of the freeze. Spot gas prices soared in several regions across the U.S. to all-time highs in the last week of January as demand for the fuel rose to near-record levels while output dropped to a two-year low with some oil and gas wells freezing shut. Appearing to take advantage of that high-price opportunity, LNG companies sent cargoes to the Elba Island LNG terminal in Georgia, Cove Point in Maryland, Everett in Massachusetts and Canaport in New Brunswick, according to LSEG data. Everett and Canaport are import terminals, but it is unusual to send cargoes to Elba Island and Cove Point, which generally export gas from the U.S. to the rest of the world. The U.S., which is now the world’s largest LNG exporter, usually imports around three cargoes a year from Trinidad to Everett because of pipeline infrastructure challenges in New England.
EUROPE INCREASES LNG PURCHASES FROM U.S.
Prior to the winter storm, the U.S. had been on course to set another monthly record as mild weather in the earlier part of the month and full production from the country’s two largest LNG plants set daily feedgas records. In keeping with its plan to phase out Russian gas – and with arbitrage in its favor – Europe increased its purchases of U.S. LNG, buying 9.46 MT, or 83% of total American exports, in January, LSEG data showed. The U.S. accounted for 60% of total European LNG purchases in January, an increase from both last month and January 2025, when the U.S. supplied 53% of European Union imports. That trend is expected to continue in 2026.
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Natural gas prices in January favored U.S. sales to Europe, averaging $11.81 per million British thermal units at the European Title Transfer Facility in the Netherlands and $10.43 on the Japan Korea Marker benchmark in Asia. Last month, U.S. LNG exports to Asia fell to 690,000 tonnes – around 6% of total U.S. LNG exports – compared to 1.23 MT in December 2025.
U.S. exports of LNG to Latin America increased slightly to 490,000 tonnes, the preliminary data showed.
Egypt continued its purchases of U.S. LNG, buying 500,000 tonnes in January. There were 210,000 tonnes on the water as the month ended, having left U.S. LNG plants but showing they were open for orders.
Reporting by Curtis Williams in Houston; Editing by Nathan Crooks and Paul Simao
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