The market and geopolitical impact of American LNG in Oil & Companies News 19/02/2026 The United States’ rise to become the dominant global exporter of liquefied natural gas has brought increased flexibility and volume to the market, with significant implications for global energy markets. Europe’s post-Ukraine energy pivot away from Russia has accelerated this shift, making American gas a new pillar of energy security and geopolitical influence. In January 2026, the European Union sourced 60% of its imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States – up from 24% at the beginning of 2021. This reflects a shift in which much of the piped gas once supplied by Russia has been replaced by US LNG imports. As a result, US natural-gas exports have taken on new strategic importance for energy security in Europe, and elsewhere. In the early 2000s, an American export boom in LNG was not on the horizon. The US Energy Information Administration instead expected that growing natural-gas imports would ultimately supply over 20% of US demand by 2025. LNG import terminals and continued pipeline supplies from Canada were deemed essential for energy security. That outlook was overturned by the shale revolution: from the mid-2000s onward, the rapid, large-scale deployment of horizontal drilling and other extraction techniques across US shale basins unlocked vast, previously uneconomic natural-gas resources, driving sustained growth in domestic production. As supply surged and prices fell, the US shifted from being a projected major importer to a surplus producer. Several import terminals were reconfigured as export facilities, and the country began to export LNG from the Gulf Coast in 2016. Source: The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) 2026-02-19 hellenicshippingnews... window.___gcfg = {lang: 'en-US'}; (function(w, d, s) { function go(){ var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0], load = function(url, id) { if (d.getElementById(id)) {return;} js = d.createElement(s); js.src = url; js.id = id; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }; load('//connect.facebook.net/en/all.js#xfbml=1', 'fbjssdk'); load('https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js', 'gplus1js'); load('//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js', 'tweetjs'); } if (w.addEventListener) { w.addEventListener("load", go, false); } else if (w.attachEvent) { w.attachEvent("onload",go); } }(window, document, 'script')); tweet Share