US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz indicated Thursday that decisions on at least some of the pending applications to export US liquefied natural gas would be made before the end of the year.
During his first appearance before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Moniz said that since taking office three weeks ago he has been "reviewing fastidiously" the process DOE has used to approve applications to ship LNG to countries that do not have a free trade agreement with the US.
While he said that he did not intend to alter the DOE's standing LNG export review process nor the order which applications would be approved, he said he planned to make decisions on these applications "expeditiously."
When pressed by Representative Joe Barton, a Texas Republican, for a timeframe for additional rulings, Moniz said the DOE would rule on at least some of the pending applications before the end of 2013.
"Absolutely," said Moniz, when asked by Barton if some of these applications would be decided before the end of the year.
On May 17, before Moniz took over as secretary, the DOE granted conditional approval to Freeport to export up to 1.4 Bcf/d over 20 years from its facility on Quintana Island, Texas. It was the first approval by DOE to export LNG to non-FTA countries since 2011, when the agency approved an application to ship LNG from Cheniere Energy's Sabine Pass Liquefaction project in Louisiana.
Some analysts had predicted that DOE could take a similar extended period of time to approve another LNG export application.
Under current law, DOE is required to quickly approve applications to export LNG to countries with free-trade agreements with the US. But DOE can deny or restrict proposed exports to non-FTA nations if they are deemed not to be in the US's interest.
