The United States exported 18.4 million tons of LNG through October 2018, up 54%, and imported 2 million tons, down 10%.

The upward trend in US exports of LNG since January 2016 is visible below:

South Korea was the top destination with shipments of 4.2 million tons through October, 2018, up 103%. US exports to Mexico of 3.4 million tons were up 38%.

The US shipped no LNG to China in September because of the trade war, but exports resumed in October despite a 10% duty. Exports to China October YTD totaled 2.1 million tons, up 57%.

Despite huge LNG capacity the US continues to import LNG because of pipeline and other constraints. Nearly all of this was from Trinidad and Tobago in 2018, with small volumes from EU countries. In 2017 small volumes were imported from Russia and Nigeria. To date, US imports of 2 million tons were down 10%; in 2017, imports were down 14% from the prior year.

From International Trader Publications’: LNG World Trade Report