“Shipping some of the newly abundant U.S. natural gas overseas would benefit the nation’s economy more than keeping it all at home, according to a long-awaited government study that has the potential to reshape the global energy market.
The endorsement could turn the tide in a politically sensitive issue. Gas producers are eager to export more, while big consumers including manufacturers and chemical companies are leery that exports could raise domestic prices. Environmental groups, meanwhile, fear that allowing exports would encourage more natural-gas production.
The administration had said the study would be central to its decision on approving exports. It analyzed more than a dozen scenarios for U.S. production and exports of natural gas. It found that “across all these scenarios, the U.S. was projected to gain net economic benefits” from liquefying and then exporting natural gas.
The looming prospect of the U.S.’s becoming a major exporter of natural gas underscores how the energy revolution is transforming the nation’s economic prospects. Just a few years ago, many energy companies were planning to build facilities to import liquefied natural gas into the U.S.
But thanks to technological advances, combining hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling, the U.S. has in a short time become a gas-producing powerhouse. The glut of cheap gas has helped underpin a revival in manufacturing and helped lower electricity costs for consumers.
Most of the companies seeking permission to liquefy and then ship gas overseas have been awaiting the report. The Department of Energy had said it wouldn’t issue permits for exports to countries lacking a free-trade agreement with the U.S. until the study was done and it could be assured that exports were in the national interest, as required by law….”
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