Natural Gas - Natural Gas Imports And Exports

U.S. natural gas trading was limited to the neighboring countries of Mexico and Canada until shipping natural gas in liquefied form became a feasible alternative to pipelines. In 1969 the first shipments of liquefied natural gas (LNG) were sent from Alaska to Japan, and U.S. imports of LNG from Algeria began the following year.

In 2003 U.S. net imports of natural gas by all routes totaled 3.2 trillion cubic feet, 14.8% of domestic consumption. Natural gas imports have been increasing significantly since 1986. Historically, Canada has been by far the major supplier of U.S. natural gas imports, accounting for 87% of the natural gas imported in 2003 (see Figure 3.11.)

The EIA reported in Annual Energy Review 2003 (published in 2004) that the United States exported 692 billion cubic feet of natural gas in 2003. Of these exports, Mexico bought the largest amount (333 billion cubic feet), while Canada purchased 294 billion cubic feet, and Japan bought 64 billion cubic feet.