The first seaborne export of natural gas this week from the continental U.S. is a game changer. Coming just two months after another major milestone —the lifting of a decadeslong ban on the export of crude oil—it is tempting to draw parallels between the two. But regular cargoes of liquefied natural gas , or LNG, from the U.S. may be a far more significant event for the world energy market than oil, even if they are initially inconsequential for the domestic one. Technology and economics explain the difference. North America has a massive internal market for natural gas and, because of massive reserves unlocked by fracking, an unprecedented glut. Western Europe, meanwhile, is highly dependent on Russia’s Gazprom to keep the lights on and East Asia has long been a huge importer of LNG from the […]