Mubadala Energy backed a $13 billion liquefied natural gas export project on the US Gulf Coast, the latest sign of growing Arab Gulf interest in America’s energy industry. The LNG project in Cameron Parish, Louisiana, is expected to produce 9.5 million tons of LNG a year when it starts commercial operations in 2030.
Global energy demand is projected to rise more than 50% by 2040, driven by economic growth in Asia and power-hungry AI infrastructure — and LNG, which is a cleaner fuel than coal or oil, is seen as a critical source to help meet that demand. Gas exports from Qatar and the UAE have largely halted since the war began, although a few tankers have made it out in recent weeks.
QatarEnergy had planned to almost double its domestic LNG output before Iranian strikes took out 17% of its capacity and stalled the expansion work, leaving the US unchallenged as the world’s largest producer. Qatar’s problems have been mitigated slightly by its majority stake in the Golden Pass LNG plant in Texas, which started exporting in April. Abu Dhabi’s ADNOC has a stake in another Texas project, Rio Grande LNG, via its XRG investment arm, and Saudi Aramco is both a producer and buyer of US LNG.