LNG

The Alaska LNG project has emerged as South Korea’s likely first U.S. investment under a $200 billion trade deal, with Seoul signalling a possible announcement in late August or early September.

The first cargo from Sempra’s Energia Costa Azul LNG terminal on Mexico’s Pacific coast is heading to South Korea, offering a new route for US LNG to Asian markets. The cargo, loaded aboard the Pacific Success, is still underway in the Pacific.

Limited shipbuilding capacity in South Korea and China could slow down a record expansion of global LNG supply. One of the industry’s dependencies – the ability to physically move gas – rests on a supply chain it cannot control and cannot quickly replicate, Ikram Elloumi, director of research at Wood Mackenzie warns.

Nuclear restarts and coal has displaced LNG in the South Korean power mix as Qatari supply fell away, allowing utilities to defer procurement rather than chase spot cargoes priced above $20 per MMBtu. As a result, LNG’s share in Korean power generation fell to an estimated 22–24 percent in H1-2026, down from roughly 26–28 percent in H1 2025.

South Korea’s steady inflow of Qatari LNG of roughly 0.6-0.9 MMt per month for the past two years was disrupted by the Ras Laffan air strikes in March and the subsequent force majeure. The last Qatari cargo to date discharged at Incheon on 9 March, with replacement volumes scattered across multiple sources.

Four LNG cargoes loaded from Sabine Pass LNG and Plaquemines LNG between 5 and 18 May initially signalled arrival in Tianjin, China. All four have since updated their declared destinations and are headed for South Korea and Japan instead.

Iraq’s power sector remains vulnerable to fluctuations in Iranian gas supplies, prompting Baghdad to press ahead with plans to import LNG through the country’s first floating terminal, developed by Excelerate Energy.

Two shipping majors – TMS Cardiff Gas and BW Group and – have placed LNG carrier orders at South Korean shipyards, including the word-first three-tank carrier order. Expansion in the gas carrier segment is driven by rising ton-mile demand as Asian buyers replace curtailed Qatari volumes with cargoes from North America.

Shipments from Canada’s LNG Canada plant surpassed 1 million metric tons in April, marking a new monthly record, according to LSEG data, as the $40‑billion facility is ramping toward its full design capacity. All cargoes set sail to Asia, mainly South Korea.

Bangladesh and Pakistan are fast-tracking plans to expand nuclear power capacity as disruptions to contracted Qatari LNG deliveries and price spikes expose the risk of heavy reliance on imported gas.