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Editorial comment

Even though February is the shortest month, it was nonetheless eventful, with New York Fashion Week and multiple awards ceremonies, including the Grammys, the BAFTAs, the Brit Awards, and the SAG Awards, to name a few. Not to mention the Super Bowl, which saw an estimated 113 million viewers tune in on 12 February 20231 to watch the Kansas City Chief’s beat the Philadelphia Eagles 38 to 35. This was arguably overshadowed, however, by Rihanna’s halftime show – her first live performance since the 2018 Grammys – which drew an average of 118.7 million total viewers and is still being talked about weeks later.1 If you haven’t seen the performance itself, or even other people’s reactions to the performance, where have you been?


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Staying with America, and moving from State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, to Freeport, Texas, there has also been a big announcement for the LNG industry; Freeport LNG has received regulatory approval to commence commercial operations of the company’s natural gas liquefaction and export facility.2 Following a fire at the company’s liquefaction facility in June 2022, this is good news for countries in Europe who continue to search for alternative energy sources and reduce (or completely remove) their reliance on Russian oil and gas. This announcement leaves the US in a good position to again become the world’s largest exporter of LNG in 2023.3

Elsewhere in America, Cheniere has initiated the pre-filing review process for the proposed Sabine Pass Stage 5 expansion project. The expansion project is being designed for a total production capacity of approximately 20 million tpy of LNG.

You can read more on the US LNG industry, including how it rose to a globally dominant position and whether its role can be secured for the future, in Squire Patton Boggs’ regional report on the US, starting on p.10.

The March issue also includes an article from Matrix Service Company (starting on p.31) that provides insight into how it partnered with Southwest Gas for the engineering, procurement, fabrication, and construction of the Tuscon LNG plant in Southern Arizona.

On the topic of the US, we are launching a North American supplement to LNG Industry for LNG2023, which will include keynote and technical articles, case studies on LNG activity in the US, Canada, and Mexico, and more!

As we move into March, there are some signs Spring is on its way, and it’s not too long until the clocks go forward here in the UK – here’s hoping we won’t have to stand under any more umbrellas for a while.

  1. Berman, M., ‘Super Bowl 2023: 113 Million Viewers Ranks As The Third Most-Watched Telecast Historically’, Forbes, (13 February 2023),www.forbes.com/sites/marcberman1/2023/02/13/super-bowl-2023-113-million-viewers-ranks-as-the-third-most-watched-telecast-historically/
  2. ‘Freeport LNG Receives Regulatory Approval for Commercial Operations of its Liquefaction Facility’, Freeport LNG, (21 February 2023), freeportlng.newsrouter.com/news_release.asp?intRelease_ID=9759&intAcc_ID=77
  3. DISAVINO, S., ‘U.S. poised to regain crown as world’s top LNG exporter’, Reuters, (4 January 2023), www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-poised-regain-crown-worlds-top-lng-exporter-2023-01-04/
  4. ‘Cheniere Initiates Permitting Process for Significant Expansion of LNG Export Capacity at Sabine Pass’, Cheniere, (23 February 2023),lngir.cheniere.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/272/cheniere-initiates-permitting-process-for-significant

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