The Biden administration’s pause on liquefied natural gas export licenses needs to end after November’s presidential election, said Ryan Lance, chief executive of ConocoPhillips, the Houston-based oil and gas producer with a growing LNG business.
“Customers are getting uncertain about where the future stands and producers of gas are saying, ‘Am I going to have an outlet for my gas?’ ” Lance said in a Bloomberg TV interview Monday. “So it’s leading to lower levels of activity — current prices driving that as well — and if you continue with the pause, then you’re feeding the next cycle that means higher gas prices coming as a result of trying to pause this for too long.”
Companies are seeking to build more US Gulf Coast LNG export terminals as the western world tries to ween itself off Russian gas, but the Biden administration is concerned about environmentalists criticizing the build-out of more fossil fuel-related facilities.
“I get what they’re trying to do and assess what the US market is going to look like,” Lance said of the administration. “But you could do that in parallel — you could make those assessments at the same time that you’re moving them along.”
Recommended for you
