Natural gas exporters skirt Washington’s scrutiny of China – By Ben Lefebvre & Zack Colman (Politico) / Apr 13 2023
Lawmakers are eying links between the U.S. and China, but there’s little desire to curb U.S. gas shipments that are expected to help drive the industry’s domestic growth.
The United States’ booming natural gas export industry is trying to stay out of the fray of rising tensions between the U.S. and China. And it’s getting cover from an unusual quarter: some of Beijing’s critics in the GOP.
U.S. lawmakers of both parties are pursuing tough-on-China bills after a spate of conflicts involving spy balloons, TikTok and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s recent visit to Russia. But executives at companies that sell liquefied natural gas are going to Congress with a contrary message: If the United States wants more of its gas to flow overseas, Chinese yuan will have to be part of the equation.
One reason is that contracts with Chinese buyers are critical to the gas industry’s hopes of securing billions of dollars in bank financing for planned export facilities, industry analysts said. Lack of financing led to delays in construction of new gas projects that could export as much as 21 billion cubic feet a day, a volume that if completely built would triple current U.S. capacity, according to figures from the Energy Information Administration.
“Is China still critically important in signing long-term agreements to help secure funding for those projects?” said Charlie Riedl, executive director for the Center for Liquefied Natural Gas trade association. “The answer is absolutely yes.”
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