Policy for Extending Natural Gas Export Authorizations to Non-Free Trade Agreement Countries Through the Year 2050

The Department of Energy (DOE) has established a new policy extending the standard term for authorizations to export natural gas from the lower-48 states—including domestically produced liquefied natural gas (LNG), compressed natural gas, and compressed gas liquid—to countries with which the United States does not have a free trade agreement (FTA) requiring national treatment for trade in natural gas, and with which trade is not prohibited by U.S. law or policy (non-FTA countries).

On February 11, 2020, DOE gave notice (Notice) of a proposed policy statement (Proposed Policy Statement or Proposal). DOE accepted comments from the public on the Proposal from February 11, 2020 through March 12, 2020. The comment period is now closed.

On July 29, 2020, DOE issued the Notice of Final Policy Statement and Response to Comments (Final Policy Statement).  The Final Policy Statement was published in the Federal Register on August 25, 2020 (85 Fed. Reg. 52,237) and is provided below..

For entities wishing to apply to extend the terms of DOE long-term, non-FTA LNG export orders under the Final Policy Statement, templates are provided below for the convenience of applicants. One template can be used for applications to amend existing authorizations. Another template is for amendments to pending applications.