Expand’s Dell’Osso: US LNG Facilities May Fall Below Capacity in ‘26

After 2026, more LNG supply will be in the global market, particularly from Qatar, so some U.S. export facilities might not be running at capacity, Expand Energy President and CEO Nick Dell’Osso expects.

“I think we likely will have a very tight market until you see Qatar bring on incremental trains, which is probably the end of 2027, beginning of ’28 timeframe,” he said at a Goldman Sachs conference in January.

Expand wants to time its decision to increase its drilling and completion (D&C) spend to when the LNG market is flush so it can grow its gas output, rather than keep its D&C spend steady, which has been keeping its production flat.

The math of how much U.S. gas supply is needed will have to be revisited, Dell’Osso said: What does domestic demand look like? And has international demand grown fast enough to absorb all the new LNG?

“I think it’s a bit of an unknown as to how long we’re going to need that growth and … is really the biggest thing we’re trying to understand,” he said.

Expand, as well as Southwestern Energy, which it bought for $7.4 billion on Oct. 1, were DUC’ing wells and deferring turning inline (DTIL) others in 2024, totaling 60 DUCs and 80 DTILs by November.

Instead of ramping to the pre-2024 level, Expand plans to use its DTILs and DUCs over time to counter production declines that have come from reduced activity, Dell’Osso said.

“In other words, we can level out our production to a good level in 2025, around 7 Bcf/d. And that cadence and that timing is exactly what we expect to do throughout the year.”