The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) revoked on Jan. 21 a Biden-era regulation that restricted LNG exports, paving the way for capacity additions in the sector and strengthening America’s energy industry.
In January 2024, the federal government temporarily paused the approval of LNG exports to nations without a Free Trade Agreement with the United States. At the time, the administration cited issues such as the impact of LNG exports on greenhouse gas emissions and rising energy costs for Americans as reasons for the pause.
The DOE announced that effective Tuesday, it is ending the pause as part of restoring the “Trump energy dominance agenda.”
With the reversal in policy, the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management has been directed to resume the consideration of pending export applications. The agency’s decision follows the direction laid out by President Donald Trump in his “Unleashing American Energy” executive order signed on his first day in office.
The Biden administration’s moratorium on exports had negatively impacted several American LNG projects, including those in Texas and Louisiana. These projects are now in a better position to move forward, potentially adding another 100 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) to U.S. export capacity.
The United States is already the world’s largest LNG exporter and shipped 88.3 million tonnes of superchilled gas in 2024. This year alone, three new plants should add nearly 50 MTPA to U.S. capacity.
Before the Biden administration halted new permit approvals, the government had already given the green light to projects that would increase U.S. LNG capacity to 200 MPTA from around 90 MTPA. Those projects were not affected by the moratorium.
New permits issued by the new government would likely increase export capacity from 2030 onward because it takes several years to build LNG plants.
LNG is used residentially for cooking, heating, and generating electricity. Commercially, it is used for manufacturing paints and fertilizers.
In July 2024, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction that halted the LNG pause after 16 states, led by Louisiana, brought a lawsuit against the policy. The complaint argued that the DOE violated federal laws by taking such action.
Judge James Cain Jr. from the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, who issued the injunction, observed that in Louisiana, the LNG market added $4.4 billion a year to the economy and accounted for 18,000 jobs.
If pending projects were canceled as a result of the LNG pause, Louisiana stood to suffer harm, the judge said, calling the DOE decision “completely without reason or logic.”
The Biden administration later challenged the ruling, filing an appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Benefitting America
Gillian Giannetti, senior attorney at environmental advocacy Natural Resources Defense Council, criticized Trump’s decision to allow more LNG export approvals, calling the move “deeply misguided.”
“Expanding LNG production deepens our reliance on fossil fuels at a time when we urgently need to transition to clean energy,” Giannetti said. “LNG operations contribute to dangerous climate pollution, harm public health, and increase energy costs for American families—all while locking communities near those facilities into decades of environmental and economic risks.”
Trump’s decision was welcomed by Charlie Riedl, executive director of the Center for LNG, who said that LNG exports are a “vital geopolitical tool” that helps balance the country’s trade deficits.
The exports also reduce global emissions and ensure the energy security of America’s allies, he said.
“We will work with the Trump administration to counter the negative impacts of the pause and return to normal order,” he said.
Sempra Infrastructure's computer rendition of the Port Arthur LNG facility in Southeast Texas. Courtesy of Sempra Infrastructure
Paul Everingham, CEO of the Asia Natural Gas & Energy Association, cited a study by Wood Mackenzie that states Asia’s LNG demand is expected to almost double by 2050 while the United States is forecast to account for a third of the global LNG supply by 2035.
Asia’s demand growth and America’s ability to meet it were “contingent” on the LNG pause being lifted and supply being available in the coming decades, Everingham said.
“Today’s issuing by President Trump of an order to resume processing of LNG export approvals will enable key projects to proceed and give decision and policy makers in Asia the certainty they require to make long-term decisions about energy,” he said. “Emerging economies in Asia seek to switch out high-emitting coal use for more gas-fired power as they pursue sensible and well-planned growth in renewable energy sources. The resumption of LNG export approvals in the US will help make this a reality.”
Trump’s “Unleashing American Energy” executive order stated that “burdensome and ideologically motivated regulations” in recent years have negatively affected America’s ability to make use of its abundant energy and natural resources, inflicting higher costs on citizens, reducing job creation, and weakening national security.
“It is thus in the national interest to unleash America’s affordable and reliable energy and natural resources. This will restore American prosperity,” the order stated.
