Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is the most rapidly growing segment of seaborne energy trade. Producing nations build LNG export terminals — enormous facilities that compress and chill gaseous methane to a liquid at −162°C — and load it into specialised cryogenic tankers for delivery to import terminals in consuming nations. The trade has reshaped global energy geopolitics over the past twenty years, and a handful of export ports dominate the supply side.
Qatar
Ras Laffan in Qatar (QARLF) is one of the largest single LNG export complexes in the world, supplying Asia, Europe, and the Indian subcontinent. Qatar’s position as the swing supplier of LNG has historically been tied to its enormous North Field reserves and its long-term contracts with Japanese and Korean utilities.
United States
Sabine Pass in Louisiana (USSPS) was the first US Lower-48 LNG export terminal to come online in 2016, and since then the United States has rapidly built out a string of terminals along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts — Cameron, Freeport, Corpus Christi, Cove Point, Elba Island. US LNG exports overtook Qatari and Australian volumes in 2023 to make the US the largest LNG exporter by tonnage.
Australia
Australia is the third major export region, with terminals in Western Australia (Pluto, North West Shelf at Karratha), the Northern Territory (Darwin), and Queensland (Gladstone). Australian LNG flows predominantly to Japan, China, South Korea, and Taiwan.
Russia
Russia’s LNG export programme has historically run from Sakhalin in the Far East and from the Yamal Peninsula in the Arctic. Yamal LNG (RUSAB) is a striking facility — a multi-train liquefaction complex on the edge of the Arctic Ocean served by ice-class LNG carriers that transit the Northern Sea Route in summer and use Murmansk transhipment in winter.
Other producers
Smaller but significant exporters include Malaysia (Bintulu), Indonesia (Tangguh, Bontang), Algeria (Arzew, Skikda), Nigeria (Bonny), Trinidad and Tobago (Point Fortin), Oman (Sur), and the United Arab Emirates (Das Island).
How LNG calls show up in PortWatch
LNG carrier calls in PortWatch typically have AIS type “LNG Tanker” or are tagged as “Tanker”. They cluster heavily at the export terminals listed above and at the major importer terminals in Japan, South Korea, China, India, and Western Europe (Zeebrugge, Rotterdam Gate, Isle of Grain, Sines, Barcelona). A port that hosts LNG carrier calls is hosting a multi-billion-dollar liquefaction or regasification facility — these vessels do not call at general-purpose ports.