In 2017, the United States became a net exporter of natural gas for the first time since the late 1950s. And last year, American natural gas exports totaled 3.61 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) — the highest on record.
70% of those exports left the country through pipelines. That’s down from 98% in 2012.
And the reason for that is the same reason for record natural gas production and exports: liquefied natural gas, otherwise known as LNG.
Liquefied natural gas is simply natural gas that has been cooled down into liquid form. This makes it possible to transport natural gas without pipelines, and thus possible for the United States to export to foreign countries that are not directly connected to its infrastructure.
The United States is currently experiencing an LNG boom. Right now, there are five LNG export terminals in operation, with dozens of others under construction, approved, planned, or in some stage of development.
I thought it would be interesting to take a look at these five LNG terminals that dot the nation today. Check them out…
Freeport LNG Facility, Texas
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Dominion Cove Point LNG Terminal, Maryland
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Corpus Christi Facility, Texas
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Cameron LNG Export Terminal, Louisiana
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Elba Island LNG Terminal, Georgia
(very recently began operations)
Back in May, the European Commission reported that LNG imports from the U.S. have increased by 272% since 2018. EC data shows record LNG imports coming from the U.S. in March 2019 totaling 49 billion cubic feet.
And that’s only the beginning.
A month earlier, U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry signed two export orders that will more than double America’s LNG exports to 112 Bcf by next year.
And the European Commission says LNG imports could increase from there to 282 Bcf by 2023.
The International Energy Agency says the liquefied natural gas market has already received a record $50 billion in investments this year.
According to IEA figures, over 6 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of LNG capacity is due by the end of this year. This is a record that blasts through the previous high of 2.5 Tcf.
Fortunately for us, the mainstream market is too wrapped up in other more dramatic investing headlines to be concerned with boring old liquefied natural gas. Meatless hamburgers… CBD… crypto… meatless CBD crypto-burgers… these all dominate financial headlines instead.
But the smart money is betting big on LNG. Resident oil and natural gas expert Keith Kohl is putting his money in a newly discovered oil and natural gas region of Texas.
This massive area could rival some of the biggest American energy resource discoveries in history. And it could be the next millionaire-making area waiting to pay out to early investors.
You see, Texas is home to one of the most prolific tight oil and natural gas geologic basins in the world: the great Permian Basin.
And this is where makers of American LNG get their feedstock.
The Permian Basin has long been known to contain massive energy resources. But it wasn’t until the mid-2000s, with the advent of the new technologies hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling, that the Permian Basin’s resources became available to producers.
Today, the Permian Basin is the largest producing oil field in the world, even bigger than Saudi Arabia’s Ghawar. The EIA reports oil production from the Permian is currently at 4.2 million barrels per day. That’s compared to Ghawar’s production of 3.8 Mbbls/d.
The Permian Basin is not only the largest oil and gas region in the world right now in terms of production, but estimates of its underdeveloped energy resource are growing.
The United States Geological Survey recently reported an increase in technically recoverable resources from the Permian. The USGS now says the Texas Permian Basin contains 46.3 billion barrels of oil, 281 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, and 19.9 billion barrels of natural gas liquids.
The Permian Basin has become the crown jewel of the American energy industry. But here’s the thing most people don’t know… the little secret Texas is hiding…
The Permian Basin is one of a small handful of other undeveloped oil and gas basins.
What that means is there could be more tight oil and gas in and around Texas than anyone ever thought, just waiting to be discovered and developed.
Keith Kohl says, “For sure, there are billions of barrels of recoverable oil in and around the Permian Basin that haven’t even been counted yet. Potentially trillions of dollars just waiting to be found.”
Right this minute, the Texas Permian is booming with activity. So much, in fact, that infrastructure around the area is being strained. Local authorities are dealing with electricity, water, and housing shortages as well as heavy truck traffic and quickly deteriorating roads.
Soon developers are going to be looking elsewhere. And that’s when these secret oil and gas basins in and around Texas are going to explode in popularity.
Keith recently published an entire report that discusses these “secret” oil and gas basins in Texas. I highly urge you to look into these alternative basins before Main Street learns about them.
Until next time,
Luke Burgess
As an editor at Energy and Capital, Luke’s analysis and market research reach hundreds of thousands of investors every day. Luke is also a contributing editor of Angel Publishing’s Bull and Bust Report newsletter. There, he helps investors in leveraging the future supply-demand imbalance that he believes could be key to a cyclical upswing in the hard asset markets. For more on Luke, go to his editor’s page.
