Years ago, I met with a colleague who brought along his young daughter about to celebrate her birthday. For a 7-year-old, she wore an unusually serious countenance, hanging on to every word of the adult business conversation. When our food was served, I asked her what she wanted for her birthday. Without a blink she replied, “real estate, of course.” In retrospect, had that lunch happened today in the current energy environs, who’s to say this precocious child might’ve responded, “LNG export facilities and a simpler permit process.”

Reese Energy Consulting today is following the latest U.S. LNG projects moving closer to FIDs but ever mindful of the government’s onerous permitting process and sloth-speed decision making. With countries in desperate need of gas resources that we have exponentially enough to share with the world, the newest LNG projects cite permitting as the largest obstacle to get from here to there. Wood Mackenzie agrees that uncertainty to move forward with LNG infrastructure and capacity expansions lies in problematic permitting. Sempra says its project to double storage and triple productivity will be driven by the ability to get through permitting. Penn LNG plans to prefile with FERC this year for its $6.4 billion newbuild export plant. And there are others in line.