Qatar ‘reclaims’ position as world’s largest LNG exporter in 2022: GECF

Qatar ‘reclaims’ position as world’s largest LNG exporter in 2022: GECF

Qatar "reclaimed" its position as the largest liquefied natural gas exporter in the world with 80mn tonnes of LNG exports in 2022, the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) has said in a report.

Last year, Qatar was followed by Australia (79mn tonnes), the US (78mn tonnes), Russia (32mn tonnes) and Malaysia (27mn tonnes) respectively, GECF said in its ‘Annual Gas Market Report 2023’.

In terms of the variation in global LNG exports at a country level, the US continued to drive the increase in global LNG exports while Russia, Qatar, Norway, Malaysia and Trinidad and Tobago contributed to a lesser extent. In contrast, LNG exports were down significantly in Nigeria and Algeria.

In 2022, global LNG exports increased by 5% (18mn tonnes) y-o-y to 399mn tonnes, Doha-headquartered GECF noted.

This represents a slowdown in the pace of growth in LNG exports, which expanded by 6% (22mn tonnes) y-o-y in 2021.

The higher LNG exports last year came from GECF and non-GECF countries as well as higher LNG reloads. GECF’s share in global LNG exports averaged 50% in 2022, relatively unchanged from a year earlier.

The start-up and ramp-up of new liquefaction projects, higher feedgas availability, lower unplanned maintenance, and LNG production above the nameplate capacity in