That outage dropped the United States behind top exporter Australia as global demand for the fuel boomed.
In 2022, U.S. exports of natural gas as LNG rose 8% to 10.6 bcfd, just shy of Australia's 10.7 bcfd.
The United States remained ahead of Qatar, which in third place shipped 10.5 bcfd, according to data provider Refinitiv.
CROWN WITHIN SIGHTHowever, the loss of Freeport LNG's supply at mid-year took away the U.S. chance to take the crown as top exporter in 2022.
In 2021, when prices in Asia were higher, just 35%, or about 3.3 bcfd, of U.S. LNG exports went to Europe.