WASHINGTON, DC — A study released today by the world-leading energy analytics team at S&P Global demonstrates the significant economic and environmental benefits of U.S. liquid natural gas (LNG) exports. It also documents the enormous benefits of building natural gas pipelines to serve Northeast states.
The report, supported by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, is the second phase of a comprehensive modeling study that provided an independent, objective view of the impact of U.S. liquid natural gas exports on the American economy.
“This report should end any debate: U.S. LNG exports are indisputably in America’s public interest,” said Marty Durbin, president of the U.S. Chamber’s Global Energy Institute. “As the Trump Administration resumes review of export license applications, S&P Global’s modeling provides a more comprehensive and accurate picture than the flawed assumptions used by the previous Administration to justify its halt on export approvals.”
The study found that of the 495,000 jobs supported by the LNG industry, 37 percent—or 183,000—are in states that do not produce natural gas. Twenty-one states have more than 5,000 jobs supported by the industry.
The phase 2 study also sheds new light on the economic harm to consumers caused by the lack of natural gas pipelines serving Northeast states. Due to pipeline constraints, Northeast residents pay the highest natural gas prices in the country. During peak winter periods, wholesale natural gas prices in Boston and New York are 166 percent and 144 percent higher than the national benchmark.
The S&P Global study found that expanding pipeline capability between the Marcellus region and New York and New England would reduce natural gas prices by 27 percent in Boston and 17 percent in New York, with peak winter savings even higher.
“The Northeast has walled itself off from some of the most affordable energy in the world, but it doesn’t have to be that way,” said Durbin. “Residents in New York and New England are paying the highest energy prices in the country due to the choices of elected officials to stop the kind of pipeline projects that exist almost everywhere else in the country. If built, businesses and families would see immediate and lasting price relief instead of escalating prices that will only get worse.”
The analysis also found that U.S. LNG exports help reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. Today, they are displacing Russian gas in Europe and serving growing Asian markets, and the study found that if pending U.S. LNG projects were to be halted, 85 percent of the lost volume would be replaced by higher emissions alternatives such as coal, oil, and pipeline gas from Russia and Algeria. Moving forward with those projects would avoid up to 780 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions through 2040—equivalent to 1/3 of the European Union’s cumulative energy-related emissions reductions over the last decade.
“U.S. LNG exports are clearly reducing global greenhouse gas emissions today and are critical to future emissions reductions as global populations and economies grow,” said Durbin. “This emissions advantage is likely to expand as American energy companies continue to lead the world in reducing methane emissions throughout the natural gas value chain.”
To read the study, and to review phase 1 of the S&P Global report, which examined the overall economic benefits of LNG exports, click here. A fact sheet with key findings is available here and an interactive dashboard of state-level economic impacts is here.
###