DOE Streamlines Reporting Requirements for LNG Exporters

The Energy Department is streamlining reporting requirements for exporters of liquefied natural gas, it said in a policy statement issued Dec. 19. In a change from the current requirements associated with LNG export authorizations, DOE will no longer require exporters to report the destination for which the LNG was “received for end use.” Instead, exporters will only have to report the destination to which the LNG was actually delivered. DOE is making the change due to “the complexity of some LNG export transactions, and the challenges associated with tracking LNG exports all the way to their point of end-use,” it said in a press release. The policy statement is effective Dec. 19, though DOE is also issuing a blanket order removing the end-use reporting requirement from existing export authorizations issued since February 2016. Separately, the agency also issued a proposed interpretive rule that would clarify the types of contracts and purchase agreements that exporters seeking authorizations must submit to DOE.