Texas officials have called for an easing of LNG export rules, citing the slow speed of US federal approvals for LNG export facilities as a brake on the national economy.
The demand for the relatively clean-burning LNG, especially from Asia, is high and the US has an abundant supply. It should be a perfect match and a boon for trans-Pacific shipping business, claimed Texas state and federal officials at a forum hosted by the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers in Houston.
However the pace of federal approval is seeing export facilities take two-to-three years to be processed where it should be a matter of months, say the officials.
LNG is a natural gas converted to liquid form for ease of storage or transport. It is carried at sea by specially designed tankers.
Speakers at the forum, including politicians as well as officials from the fields of transportation and energy, also called for an end to bans and restrictions on the export of US crude oil.
