India was the top destination for US liquefied natural gas cargoes in May, as Asia overtook Europe as the main destination for US LNG supplies, according to the Department of Energy’s newest LNG monthly report.
The DOE report shows that US terminals shipped 45.3 Bcf of LNG to India in May, 41.2 Bcf to Japan, 37.7 Bcf to the Netherlands, 28.4 Bcf to South Korea, and 26.2 Bcf to Germany.
These five countries took 48.6 percent of total US LNG exports in May.
Dutch and French LNG import terminals were the top destinations for US LNG supplies in March and April.
According to DOE’s data, the Netherlands was the top destination for US LNG supplies in January-May with 229.7 Bcf or 69 cargoes, down by 12 percent year-on-year, while France took 195.5 Bcf or 60 cargoes, down by 5 percent year-on-year.
In 2023, the Netherlands was also the the prime destination for US LNG cargoes with 588.6 Bcf, followed by France with 493.2 Bcf.
US LNG exports up
The US exported in total 367.7 Bcf of LNG in May to 32 countries, up by 0.3 percent compared to the same month in 2023 and a rise of 21 percent from the prior month, the DOE report shows.
Asia received 186.6 Bcf or 50.8 percent of these volumes, while Europe received 140.7 Bcf or 38.3 percent of these volumes and Latin America/Caribbean received 40.4 Bcf or 11 percent.
The DOE said that 84.8 percent of total May LNG exports went to non-free trade agreement countries, while the remaining 15.2 percent went to free trade agreement countries.
US terminals shipped 122 LNG cargoes in May, up from 105 LNG cargoes in April.
Cheniere’s Sabine Pass plant sent 40 cargoes and its Corpus Christi terminal shipped 20 cargoes, while the Freeport LNG terminal shipped 24 cargoes and Sempra’s Cameron LNG plant and Venture Global’s Calcasieu plant each sent 14 cargoes.
The Cove Point LNG dispatched 8 shipments and Elba Island LNG sent 2 cargoes.
Average price
According to DOE’s report, the average price by export terminal reached 5.42/MMBtu in May, and this compares to 7.05/MMBtu in May 2023, while the average price was 5.25/MMBtu in April, $5.47/MMBtu in March, $6.31/MMBtu in February, and 6.63/MMBtu in January this year.
The most expensive average price in May comes from Venture Global’s Calcasieu Pass terminal and it reached $8.04/MMBtu.
Prices at other facilities ranged between $4.08-$6.04/MMBtu, the data shows.