Washington (Platts)--31Jan2013/458 pm EST/2158 GMT

A bipartisan group of US lawmakers on Thursday introduced a bill that would allow liquefied natural gas exports to North Atlantic Treaty Organization members, Japan and other countries.

"I support LNG exports to countries whether or not they have a free trade agreement with the United States," said Senator John Barrasso, Republican-Wyoming, one of the sponsors of the bill.

"Our bill will also promote the energy security of key US allies by helping reduce their dependence on oil and gas from countries such as Russia and Iran," Barrasso added.

Under current law, the US Department of Energy must quickly approve US LNG exports to countries that have free trade agreements with the US. However, DOE can limit or block exports to non-FTA countries if they are not in the public interest.

So far, only Cheniere Energy's Sabine Pass terminal in Louisiana has won approval to export LNG to both FTA and non-FTA countries.

Japan, one of the world's most prolific LNG importers, is not an FTA nation, but it has urged US officials to allow LNG exports in the wake of the Fukushima earthquake that shut down the nation's nuclear energy supplies.

The bill introduced Thursday would require DOE to approve gas exports to NATO members and Japan. The legislation would also require DOE to approve gas exports to any other country if the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, finds that exports to that country would promote the national security interests of the US, the sponsors said.

"The US and Alaska have plenty of natural gas to sell to Japan and our NATO allies, and I can't think of a better place to sell it than to our strategic and economic partners," said Senator Mark Begich, Democrat-Alaska, another sponsor of the bill.

The other senators that backed the bill are Jim Inhofe, Republican-Oklahoma; Tom Coburn, Republican-Oklahoma; John Cornyn, Republican-Texas; Mike Enzi, Republican-Wyoming; Heidi Heitkamp, Democrat-North Dakota; John Hoeven, Republican-North Dakota; Ron Johnson, Republican-Wisconsin; Mike Lee, Republican-Utah; and David Vitter, Republican-Louisiana.

--Kate Winston, catherine_winston@platts.com 
--Edited by Keiron Greenhalgh, keiron_greenhalgh@platts.com

© 2013 Platts, The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.  To subscribe or visit go to:  http://www.platts.com

http://www.platts.com/RSSFeedDetailedNews/RSSFeed/NaturalGas/6102621?WT.mc_id=&WT.tsrc=Eloqua