For all the regulatory lashings, a moratorium on new LNG export permits, several terminal outages, and construction delays on projects, the U.S. is still set to be anointed world’s largest LNG exporter for the second consecutive year. And quite handily, setting sail to what is expected to be 720,000 tons shipped to global markets by December 31. Reclaiming that crown hasn’t exactly been a joy ride for natural gas or LNG producers given ailing gas prices, or for LNG project developers sitting on the bench ready to play ball. Nevertheless, Reese Energy Consulting sees signs of positive change ahead in 2025 and that’s the route we choose to travel today because, you know, there’s no crying in baseball.

We start with a big honkin’ congratulations to Va.-based Venture Global, whose $21 billion Plaquemines LNG plant in La., has begun production and will ultimately produce 20 MTPA. Plaquemines is the eighth LNG facility to come online, the nation’s second largest, and Venture Global’s second plant following its 12 MTPA Calcasieu Pass.

With a new incoming administration only weeks away, we look for halts to the onerous pause of LNG export licenses where projects make sense to meet growing global demand in an energy landscape that’s rapidly changing. The era of electrification, Europe’s divorce of Russia gas imports by 2027, Asia’s continued wean off coal-fired power generation that will depend on more U.S. LNG supplies—these are part and parcel of an optimistic future for American natural gas. Our resources are essential to the world’s growth and prosperity.

According to Wood Mackenzie, “If the pause is lifted and approvals and development of export facilities resume, then U.S. LNG is expected to comprise a third of global supply by 2035.”