US liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports averaged 17.4 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in the first six months of the year, 23 percent more than the same period in 2025, according to the Energy Information Administration.
In its latest short-term energy outlook, EIA estimates US LNG exports will average 17.3 Bcf/d in the second half of 2026 before rising to 18.7 Bcf/d in the first half of 2027.
The agency noted that export capacity additions from startup production at new terminals and expansions at existing terminals boosted LNG exports at the fastest rate since the United States began large-scale exports in 2016.
Venture Global’s Plaquemines LNG is exporting at full capacity, while Cheniere just completed the Corpus Christi Stage 3 project.
EIA said these terminals, when complete, will increase nominal U.S. export capacity by a combined 4.0 Bcf/d.
Golden Pass LNG, owned by QatarEnergy and ExxonMobil, began exports in April 2026 and is expected to increase exports from Train 1 through the end of 2026, adding another 0.7 Bcf/d of nominal export capacity.
EIA noted that Golden Pass LNG Train 2 is expected to be completed in late 2026.
High LNG prices
EIA said that global LNG prices remained sufficiently high throughout the first half of this year to continue incentivizing US exports near maximum output levels.
In March, disruptions to shipments of LNG through the Strait of Hormuz cut off 20 percent of global LNG supplies, mostly from Qatar.
The disruption pushed global LNG prices higher and forced Asian buyers, who import approximately 80 percent of Qatari LNG supplies, to compete for limited spot cargoes on the open market.
EIA said the average price at Europe’s benchmark Title Transfer Facility in the Netherlands was $14.74 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) in the first half of this year, up from $13.10/MMBtu in the same period last year.
The price is the highest since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, when prices rose to $32.42/MMBtu in the first half of the year as European buyers turned away from piped Russian gas.
Moreover, the average Japan-Korea Marker price, the benchmark price for LNG imports into East Asia, also reached a four-year high of $15.56/MMBtu as hot weather supported higher spot demand for LNG in the region, up $2.38/MMBtu from the first half of 2025 and the highest since $29.00/MMBtu in 2022, EIA cited Bloomberg data.
Doubling of US LNG shipments to Asia
EIA said that market disruptions from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz contributed to a doubling of US LNG shipments to Asia in the first half of this year compared with last year.
Exports to both Europe and Asia were both higher on a volume basis, rising 0.1 Bcf/d (1 percent) and 2.3 Bcf/d (108 percent) from the first half of 2025, respectively.
EIA said exports to Latin America and the Caribbean and the Middle East and North Africa rose 0.8 Bcf/d (46 percent) from the first half of 2025.
Top destination countries included Egypt (1.7 Bcf/d), the Netherlands (1.7 Bcf/d), Italy (1.4 Bcf/d), France (1.2 Bcf/d), and the United Kingdom (1.1 Bcf/d), the agency said.