The US Department of Energy on Friday issued a policy statement in order to streamline its regulatory process on short-term LNG export authorizations.
DOE said this move would remove the requirement for long-term LNG export authorization holders to seek separate short-term authorizations to export the same volumes approved for long-term exports.
Furthermore, it would remove a duplicative requirement for exports of LNG to have DOE authorization for the short-term market, where the authorization holder already has long-term export authority.
In addition, DOE is amending several long-term LNG export orders to add short-term export authority to the long-term orders.
“We are increasingly seeing more sales of LNG on the spot market, and this action by DOE is allowing more flexibility for US LNG exporters,” said Deputy Secretary of Energy Mark Menezes.
Menezes added that with this policy, US LNG exporters can let the market – not the regulatory process – determine which LNG cargoes they would export under long-term or short-term agreements on the spot market,.
Worth mentioning here, this move follows several long-term LNG export authorizations extending export terms.
Including the recently announced extensions, DOE granted in total eighteen US LNG export projects, as well as the Costa Azul project in Mexico, long-term authorizations with export terms through 2050.