Interview - Jack Fusco

The CEO of Cheniere Energy Inc. talks about the rise of U.S. liquefied natural gas exports and surging demand from China

- Naureen S. Malik

What sets Cheniere apart from other companies that liquefy natural gas?

The beauty of the Cheniere model vs. just about any other LNG facility under construction today in the U.S. is that we are a full-service model. So if you are a utility and not a big conglomerate and you really don’t want to worry about procuring gas in America and shipping it to your facility, you come to Cheniere and we’ll deliver. If you want it delivered by ship to your [regasification] terminal in Asia, we are happy to do that. If you want it f.o.b. Louisiana, we are happy to do that.

What will drive LNG demand growth next year?

What I see with Asia, whether it’s India, China, or Taiwan or South Korea or Vietnam, is we could easily double the size of the company. It could be a phenomenal shift. In China alone, it’s more than 45 percent year-over-year in LNG demand growth, and no one anticipated that level of growth.

Is that kind of growth in China sustainable?