United States, a net exporter of natural gas this year (EIA)

Victoria Zaretskaya, Katie Dyl / Energy Information Administration (EIA)

EIA?s latest Short-Term Energy Outlook projects that the United States will export more natural gas than it imports in 2017. The United States has been a net exporter for three of the past four months and is expected to continue to export more natural gas than it imports for the rest of 2017 and throughout 2018. The United States? status as a net exporter is expected to continue past 2018 because of growing U.S. natural gas exports to Mexico, declining pipeline imports from Canada, and increasing exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

The United States is currently the world's largest natural gas producer , having surpassed Russia in 2009 . Natural gas production in the United States increased from 55 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in 2008 to 72.5 Bcf/d in 2016. Most of this natural gas?about 96% in 2016?is consumed domestically. Abundant natural gas resources and large production increases have created opportunities for U.S. natural gas exports.

With a near doubling of U.S. export pipeline capacity to Mexico by 2019, EIA expects U.S. natural gas exports to increase, though they should remain well below the available pipeline capacity. Mexico?s national energy ministry (SENER) expects to increase its natural gas use for electric power generation by almost 50% between 2016 and 2020 . Mexico's domestic natural gas pipeline network is undergoing a major expansion , primarily to accommodate new natural gas pipeline imports from the United States.

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