ExxonMobil’s president said the US could be at risk of losing economic opportunity and the ability to solidify its role as a “global leader” unless the government moves to approve LNG exports.
Rob Franklin, president of ExxonMobil Gas & Power Marketing, said it was important to make sure the case of LNG exports did not become “just another casualty of bureaucracy.”
The company has recently embarked on a $10billion project to convert the LNG regasification terminal at Golden Pass , Texas, into an LNG export terminal.
In support of this project, an application to export to non-Free Trade Agreement countries was submitted to federal officers more than two years ago.
Speaking at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington DC, Franklin said: “If we are serious about having a US LNG industry and capturing the tremendous
opportunities in front of us then we need to ensure that the case of LNG exports does not become just another casualty of bureaucracy.
“If policymakers don’t revisit and redress some significant legal and regulatory problems…then the US could be left behind during one of the great, historic developments in global energy and trade.
“LNG exports can provide the spur to further increase America’s natural gas production, providing all the attendant benefits that would generate.”