January typically signifies the start of many things: resolutions, awards season and, for some, poor weather. Already, it is very dark and cold across the UK, with temperatures reaching as low as -12.5°C in Norfolk in the first week of the month.1 At the moment, summer seems very far away.
Nevertheless, there is a lot to look forward to. 2026 is a big year for sport – we’ve already had the Ashes series in Australia where the hosts came out on top to retain their title. Moreover, there’s the Winter Olympics and Paralympics taking place in Milan in February and March, respectively; Wimbledon in the summer; and the Commonwealth Games, among others. And, of course, a major football event (or would that be soccer?).
The FIFA World Cup 2026TM is taking place across the US, Canada, and Mexico from 11 June –19 July, and has already had many headlines. Cape Verde have become the second-smallest nation by population to reach the World Cup – second only to Iceland, who featured in the 2018 tournament.2 Meanwhile, Scotland are set to enjoy a public holiday to mark the men’s national team’s accomplishment in playing in its first World Cup since 1998.3 However, as one of the hosts, the US will be hoping to prove victorious on home turf.
In the LNG industry, the US has now long positioned itself as a leader of LNG production and market capacity. In fact, in 2025, it became the first country to export more than 100 million t (selling 111 million t) of LNG in a single year, powered by new plants coming online. This is almost 20 million t more than Qatar, its nearest rival.4 It is unlikely this will change anytime soon, with further additional capacity expected to come online later in 2026, such as Golden Pass, Plaquemines LNG Phase 2, and the Corpus Christi Liquefaction Stage 3 project. Moreover, 45% of new export capacity (expected to grow by 300 billion m3/y) is anticipated to come from the US, according to the International Energy Administration.5
However, 2025 also demonstrated some warnings that this increase in supply was outpacing gas demand, but only time will tell. With Europe implementing a new law to phase out Russian imports (spot-market Russian LNG will be banned from the EU in early 2026 while pipeline gas imports will be phased out by 30 September 2027),6 the region will need to look elsewhere to fill this gap; something that could be covered with the extra capacity coming online in the US. In addition, there are new potential markets that might soon require LNG imports. Examples could include New Zealand, which is looking to build an LNG regasification facility with the view to begin imports from winter 2027,7,8 and Iraq, which has signed an agreement with Excelerate Energy to build the country’s first LNG import terminal, with commercial operations expected to commence in 2026.9 It could be that enough new demand is generated to balance out this projected unbalanced supply-demand ratio. Whatever happens, LNG Industry will be with you every step of the way with news updates, case studies, and technical aspects covering all sectors of the industry from across the globe.
A new year also kicks off the start of a busy industry event calendar, with our first show of the year happening soon. LNG2026 takes place from 2 –5 February in Qatar, where you can pick up a copy of the January issue and visit the LNG Industry team at booth 9315.
References
- Fresh snow and ice warnings as Storm Goretti approaches UK , BBC News (6 January 2026)
- Cape Verde become second-smallest nation to reach World Cup , BBC News (13 October 2025)
- Public holiday to celebrate Scotland’s World Cup return , BBC News (5 January 2026)
- US sets new LNG export records in banner year marked by new capacity , Reuters, Williams, C. (2 January 2026)
- Five energy market trends to track in 2026, the year of the glut , Reuters, Bousso, R. (29 December 2025)
- EU to phase out imports of Russian gas , European Parliament (17 December 2025)
- Securing New Zealand’s energy future , New Zealand Government (1 October 2025)
- New Zealand starts procurement process for LNG imports , Argus Media (2 October 2025)
- Excelerate Energy Signs Definitive Agreement for Fully Integrated Floating LNG Import Terminal in Iraq , Business Wire (28 October 2025)
