American liquefied natural gas is reshaping the world energy market.

The last decade has seen an unprecedented boom in shale gas drilling in the United States. This has increasingly helped transition the country from being an energy importer to a major energy exporter. That transition, which presidents from both sides of the aisle have touted as being a positive step in making the country energy independent for half a century, has shaken up the world energy market.

The domestic energy sector in the U.S. is being reshaped by an increasingly global gas market. The United States set out to be a liquefied natural gas (L.N.G.) importer but the frenzy of drilling in shale gas fields over the last decade has changed that. An influx of L.N.G. from Texas and Louisiana is permeating through the global market creating a broader glut and ever lower energy prices.

This glut quickly exceeded domestic demand and import platforms which companies spent billions on had to be converted in order to accommodate exports. Energy experts have predicted that this shift will weaken Russian dominance over European power markets and help clean the smog across China and India as these cheap imports will eliminate the need for the burning of coal.

Over the next four to five years this shift is expected to [read more]