
Global trade in liquefied natural gas (LNG) continued to expand in 2017, and Australia and the United States were among the countries with the largest increases, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported recently.
EIA quoted the Annual Report on LNG trade by the International Association of Liquefied Natural Gas Importers (GIIGNL) as reporting that the global trade in LNG reached 38.2 billion cubic feet (about 1.1 billion cubic meters) per day in 2017, a 10 percent increase from 2016 and the largest annual volume increase on record.
In 2017, there were 19 LNG exporting countries and 40 LNG importing countries. Besides Australia and the United States, several other countries also increased LNG exports in 2017.
Asian countries led the growth in global LNG imports, accounting for 74 percent of the increase in 2017.