Big gain seen for Asia, small loss for US from LNG exports

New York

AN impending flood of US shale gas into the global market stands to lower the price of the heating fuel in Asia by almost 5 per cent while marginally raising costs to customers at home, a study commissioned by the US Energy Department shows.

Exports of 20 billion cubic feet of US gas by 2040 may cut prices in the Asia-Pacific market by 73 cents per million British thermal units, while increasing US prices by a mere 17 cents in the same period, according to the study authored by Oxford Economics and the Centre for Energy Studies at Rice University.