This year has been hard on markets. In January alone the S&P 500 was down 3.6% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 5.3%.
But during this period LNG stock news has pushed the sector higher.
Here is a brief look at this bullish LNG stock news of 2014.
China is a big factor in LNG stock news this year.
China has increasingly been in demand for natural gas. That's why the United States plans to approve more construction export facilities, which can send LNG to energy hungry Asia.
Even more bullish LNG stock news: Companies are getting closer to exporting.
There are lots of LNG terminal projects already approved with a huge focus directed to the Asian energy clients. The Obama administration is supportive of the export facilities. These new developments will have a great influence on a number of individual companies, especially in the energy sector.
2014 LNG Stock News and Analysis
Cheniere Energy (NYSEMKT: LNG) is a favorite LNG stock of Money Morning. Since we first talked about this stock it has soared, now trading around $46 per share.
Cheniere was the first company to receive go ahead from the Obama administration to do LNG exporting. Its Sabine Project in Louisiana is where it has focused its LNG investments.
The Cheniere project is an ambitious one, estimated at $12 billion. The project is headed by Bethel, and is expected to have six trains - which are LNG processing facilities. By 2015, the Sabine Pass should be handling about 500 million cubic feet of the natural gas every day.
The year 2014 is expected to oversee the continual in the development of the other three train projects initiated earlier in Corpus Christi, Tex. About $9.5 billion was invested in December 2013 and the project is expected to come to completion by 2018. The facility has also acquired a market from Indonesia PT Pertamina.
Other companies licensed in 2013 include Dominion Resources, BG Group PLC, ConocoPhillips and Transfer Partners LP.
LNG Stock News Points to Profits
Currently, natural gas sells at about $4.25 per million BTU in the United States. If the LNG is shipped and sold to Asian countries, where natural gas is priced between $15 and $16 per million BTU, this means huge profits for the U.S. LNG companies.
This is good news considering the fact that in 2000 only 11 states round the entire globe bought LNG. Today the number has sharply shot to 17 and is projected to hit 40 by the year 2020.
The United States has a big leg up with all the energy infrastructure (pipelines, LNG terminals, etc.) in place already to become a major player in LNG exports.
Moors forecast that the United States will export from 8% to 12% of the world's LNG by 2020.
There are another 20 or so LNG export projects awaiting the nod from the Obama administration. A complete list of projects awaiting the government thumbs up can be seen in this Energy Department document.
The number of approvals to be given in 2014 by the Energy Department is unknown, but the Obama administration's willingness to speed approvals of LNG export licenses would open the door for more bullish LNG stock news to come.