The coronavirus has crushed exports of liquefied natural gas from US shores, curtailing an important sales outlet for the world’s largest gas producer. 

Shipments will have dropped by 60 per cent in July from their peak in January, the Energy Information Administration forecast last week, with the US sending out the least liquid gas since before a string of new processing units opened between Texas and Georgia.  

Trade in LNG has tied together gas markets once segmented by continents, as gas is chilled and condensed for transport on ships. The US contributed more than half the liquefaction capacity added in the world last year, according to the International Gas Union. When Sempra Energy’s Cameron LNG produced its first volumes in May last year, President Donald Trump visited the plant to cheer on the US as “the energy superpower of the world”.