Last week's approval of a fourth LNG export project is stoking yet more controversy over how much gas the US can sell abroad without harming its economy. Regulators' decision to grant conditional full export rights to the Cove Point project in Maryland brings total approved export volumes to 6.37 bihion cubic feet per day, or around 48 million tons per year of LNG. After a gap of about a year, the latest three projects have been authorized relatively quickly — at one-or two-month intervals. But the gap for the 26 projects and expansions still in the approvals queue could increase again amid concerns that exports will hoist US natural gas prices, even though LNG backers are pressing the Department of Energy (DOE) to continue shortening the waiting times and to clarify the circumstances in which it can revoke export rights.
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