Louisiana Representative Charles Boustany has a lot of reasons to support the export of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States.  His district covers the majority of the shoreline from Louisiana’s border with Texas to the east and south of New Orleans, including Lake Charles, the site of the Cameron LNG terminal.

Yet, unlike Sabine Pass and Freeport LNG, Cameron still does not have approval from the Federal Government to export LNG to non-FTA countries.  However, Cameron LNG is not alone. Upwards of 20 other permit applications are still under review in a process which could take up to two years to get through.

Should this multi-billion dollar project get the green light, thousands of new jobs will be created not only in Congressman Boustany’s district, but also throughout the country by way of increased exploration and production operations, steel production, and hundreds of other areas.

These benefits don’t end here though; they extend all the way to places like India, which is increasingly reliant upon imported energy sources.  In fact, according to a study by Ambassador Karl Inderfurth and Persis Khambatta from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, DC, 75 percent of India’s current energy is imported.  By 2023, that number is expected to rise to 90 percent.

At a CSIS presentation this week, Representative Boustany remarked that the “U.S. – India trade relationship is underperforming” and that the export of LNG from the U.S. “opens up new opportunities” while helping India meet their increasing energy needs. It would further serve to break down some of the U.S. – India trade barriers and take advantage of a time-sensitive opportunity that is open exclusively to the United States.  ”Starting this process is critical,” he adds.

New LNG projects are currently ongoing around the world.  In fact trillions of cubic feet of gas have been discovered in recent years in places like Mozambique and the eastern Mediterranean, but all of these locations are still years away from exporting significant gas resources.

One exception is offshore Western Australia, where the Gorgon project is still on schedule for first LNG production at the end of 2014.

Source: GCaptain