Introduction

After a brief period of activity following the energy crisis of the 1970s, interest in North American LNG imports languished due to low gas prices and an ensuing attitude of complacency regarding energy supply. As recently as ten years ago in 1995, the United States imported a scant 17.93 billion cubic feet ("Bcf") of LNG, making it the world's smallest importer of LNG by volume. By contrast, in the same year Western Europe imported 708 Bcf of LNG, and Asia a whopping 2562 Bcf.[1] Things have changed considerably in the last decade. In 2004, the United States was the ...