Houston

WHILE plunging prices tied to oil have derailed natural gas export projects from Australia to Africa, US plans to build new terminals are getting a boost from a pricing system that charges a set fee to liquefy and ship the gas.

The US model is based on how much gas is bought - not on the price of Brent, the global crude oil benchmark. Linking the price of liquefied natural gas, or LNG, made sense when Brent was above US$100 a barrel; now, it's priced at less than US$50 after losing more than half its value in six months.