Qatar held the LNG crown for years, then lost it. This answer sets out who leads global liquefied natural gas exports now, how the order changed, and why Qatar's North Field expansion is a bid to take the top spot back by 2030.<\/p>\n
No. As of 2025 the United States is the world's largest exporter of liquefied natural gas, shipping a record 111 million tonnes, about a quarter of the global market, and becoming the first country to pass 100 million tonnes in a single year. Qatar is second at roughly 78 million tonnes, narrowly ahead of Australia in third, and together the three supply close to two thirds of world LNG. Qatar led global LNG exports for much of the past two decades but was overtaken as United States capacity surged. Qatar intends to reclaim the lead by around 2030 through its North Field expansion, which lifts its capacity from 77 to 142 million tonnes a year.<\/p>\n
En 2025, Estados Unidos export\u00f3 un r\u00e9cord de 111 millones de toneladas de GNL, aproximadamente el 25 por ciento del mercado mundial, y se convirti\u00f3 en el primer pa\u00eds en exportar m\u00e1s de 100 millones de toneladas en un solo a\u00f1o (Administraci\u00f3n de Informaci\u00f3n Energ\u00e9tica de EE. UU.<\/a>). Las exportaciones de Estados Unidos aumentaron un 27 por ciento interanual y, seg\u00fan algunos c\u00e1lculos, el pa\u00eds suministr\u00f3 la inmensa mayor\u00eda de todo el nuevo suministro mundial de GNL a\u00f1adido en 2025 (Forbes<\/a>).<\/p>\n Qatar ocupa el segundo lugar con aproximadamente 78 millones de toneladas, justo por delante de Australia en tercer lugar. Esos tres exportadores juntos representan cerca del 63 por ciento del GNL mundial (Evaluaci\u00f3n de impacto ambiental<\/a>Por lo tanto, la respuesta honesta a la pregunta es que Qatar es un exportador muy importante, pero no el m\u00e1s grande; Estados Unidos se ha llevado ese t\u00edtulo.<\/p>\n Qatar did not decline. It was outpaced. For most of the past two decades Qatar was the world’s dominant LNG exporter, but from the late 2010s the United States built liquefaction capacity at extraordinary speed, adding train after train on the Gulf Coast (informes de la industria<\/a>Mientras que Qatar creci\u00f3 de forma constante, Estados Unidos creci\u00f3 de manera explosiva, y el volumen sigue a la capacidad.<\/p>\n El resultado es un cambio estructural. El GNL estadounidense se vende principalmente mediante contratos flexibles y a corto plazo vinculados al precio del gas en Henry Hub, lo que le permiti\u00f3 escalar r\u00e1pidamente y satisfacer la demanda al contado. Qatar se apoy\u00f3 en contratos de varias d\u00e9cadas y una construcci\u00f3n deliberada y por etapas. Ambos modelos funcionan, pero en una d\u00e9cada de r\u00e1pido crecimiento de la demanda, el que construy\u00f3 m\u00e1s r\u00e1pido se impuso. Analizamos c\u00f3mo se dise\u00f1\u00f3 la posici\u00f3n estadounidense en Dominio energ\u00e9tico de Estados Unidos<\/a>.<\/p>\n Qatar’s answer is the North Field expansion. By lifting capacity from 77 to about 142 million tonnes a year by around 2030, an increase of roughly 85 percent, QatarEnergy is positioning to reclaim the lead. Its chief executive Saad al Kaabi has said the expansion will supply close to 40 percent of new global LNG this decade and return Qatar to the position of the world’s largest LNG exporter (Tribuno de Qatar<\/a>). Cubrimos la estrategia completa en our dossier on Qatar’s North Field expansion<\/a>.<\/p>\n Que funcione o no depende del momento oportuno. El mercado se dirige hacia una ola de oferta y un super\u00e1vit previsto, con Estados Unidos y Qatar a\u00f1adiendo volumen (IEA<\/a>). Qatar’s edge is cost: it is among the cheapest producers in the world, so it can keep exporting profitably at prices that squeeze rivals. The race for number one is really a race between American speed and Qatari cost.<\/p>\n Para los compradores de gas, la clave est\u00e1 en el poder de negociaci\u00f3n. Con la expansi\u00f3n de Estados Unidos y Qatar en un mercado en desaceleraci\u00f3n, los compradores obtienen mayor variedad y capacidad de negociaci\u00f3n hasta finales de la d\u00e9cada de 2020, y los m\u00e1s astutos aseguran ahora vol\u00famenes a largo plazo a precios bajos. Para los proveedores y las empresas de servicios, ambos proyectos representan enormes programas de inversi\u00f3n, y los ganadores son aquellos que logran demostrar escala, fiabilidad y cumplimiento ante dos clientes muy diferentes.<\/p>\n La lecci\u00f3n m\u00e1s profunda para el sector energ\u00e9tico B2B es que el liderazgo de mercado se dise\u00f1a, no se hereda. Qatar mantuvo el liderazgo durante veinte a\u00f1os y aun as\u00ed lo perdi\u00f3 ante un constructor m\u00e1s r\u00e1pido; ahora busca recuperarlo en costos y contratos. Compare c\u00f3mo una gran empresa juega la misma mol\u00e9cula en TotalEnergies’ two pillar model<\/a>, y c\u00f3mo el Golfo est\u00e1 reposicionando el gas en ADNOC’s XRG bet<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" No. As of 2025 the United States is the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas, shipping a record 111 million tonnes, about a quarter of the global market, and becoming the first country to pass 100 million tonnes in a single year. Qatar is second at roughly 78 million<\/p>","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":3927,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"p54_article_data":"{\"meta\":{\"kicker\":\"Answer \u00b7 LNG Markets\",\"topics\":[\"Analysis\",\"Energy\"],\"title\":\"Is Qatar the World's Largest LNG Exporter in 2026?\",\"dek\":\"Qatar held the LNG crown for years, then lost it. This answer sets out who leads global liquefied natural gas exports now, how the order changed, and why Qatar's North Field expansion is a bid to take the top spot back by 2030.\",\"date\":\"25 July 2026\",\"readTime\":\"9 min read\",\"author\":\"Project 54, Research & Strategy\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-25\"},\"quickAnswer\":{\"q\":\"Is Qatar the world's largest LNG exporter?\",\"a\":\"No. As of 2025 the United States is the world's largest exporter of liquefied natural gas, shipping a record 111 million tonnes, about a quarter of the global market, and becoming the first country to pass 100 million tonnes in a single year. Qatar is second at roughly 78 million tonnes, narrowly ahead of Australia in third, and together the three supply close to two thirds of world LNG. Qatar led global LNG exports for much of the past two decades but was overtaken as United States capacity surged. Qatar intends to reclaim the lead by around 2030 through its North Field expansion, which lifts its capacity from 77 to 142 million tonnes a year.\"},\"takeaways\":[\"The United States is the largest LNG exporter in 2025 at a record 111 million tonnes, about 25 percent of the global market, the first nation past 100 million tonnes in a year.\",\"Qatar is second at roughly 78 million tonnes and Australia third; the three together supply about 63 percent of global LNG.\",\"Qatar lost the top spot it long held because United States export capacity grew far faster, supplying the great majority of new global LNG in 2025.\",\"Qatar's North Field expansion to 142 million tonnes a year by around 2030 is an explicit bid to retake the lead.\"],\"sections\":[{\"id\":\"who\",\"q\":\"Who is the largest LNG exporter right now?\",\"h\":\"The United States, by a clear margin\",\"p\":[\"In 2025 the United States exported a record 111 million tonnes of LNG, about 25 percent of the global market, and became the first country ever to ship more than 100 million tonnes in a single year (US EIA<\/a>). United States exports rose 27 percent year on year, and by some counts the country supplied the overwhelming majority of all new global LNG supply added in 2025 (Forbes<\/a>).\",\"Qatar sits second at roughly 78 million tonnes, just ahead of Australia in third. Those three exporters together account for close to 63 percent of world LNG (EIA<\/a>). So the honest answer to the question is that Qatar is a very large exporter, but not the largest; the United States has taken that title.\"],\"table\":{\"cols\":[\"Rank 2025\",\"Exporter\",\"Approx. volume\",\"Share of global LNG\"],\"rows\":[[\"1\",\"United States\",\"about 111 million tonnes\",\"about 25 percent\"],[\"2\",\"Qatar\",\"about 78 million tonnes\",\"roughly one sixth\"],[\"3\",\"Australia\",\"about 75 million tonnes\",\"roughly one sixth\"],[\"-\",\"Top three combined\",\"-\",\"about 63 percent\"]]}},{\"id\":\"how-lost\",\"q\":\"How did Qatar lose the lead?\",\"h\":\"It did not shrink, the United States sprinted\",\"p\":[\"Qatar did not decline. It was outpaced. For most of the past two decades Qatar was the world's dominant LNG exporter, but from the late 2010s the United States built liquefaction capacity at extraordinary speed, adding train after train on the Gulf Coast (industry reporting<\/a>). Where Qatar grew steadily, the United States grew explosively, and volume follows capacity.\",\"The result is a structural shift. American LNG is largely sold on flexible, shorter contracts linked to the Henry Hub gas price, which let it scale fast and chase spot demand. Qatar leaned on multi decade contracts and a deliberate, staged buildout. Both models work, but in a decade of rapid demand growth the faster builder took the crown. We unpack how the American position was engineered in United States energy dominance<\/a>.\"]},{\"id\":\"reclaim\",\"q\":\"Can Qatar take the top spot back?\",\"h\":\"That is exactly what North Field is for\",\"p\":[\"Qatar's answer is the North Field expansion. By lifting capacity from 77 to about 142 million tonnes a year by around 2030, an increase of roughly 85 percent, QatarEnergy is positioning to reclaim the lead. Its chief executive Saad al Kaabi has said the expansion will supply close to 40 percent of new global LNG this decade and return Qatar to the position of the world's largest LNG exporter (Qatar Tribune<\/a>). We cover the full strategy in our dossier on Qatar's North Field expansion<\/a>.\",\"Whether it works depends on timing. The market is heading into a supply wave and forecast surplus, with both the United States and Qatar adding volume (IEA<\/a>). Qatar's edge is cost: it is among the cheapest producers in the world, so it can keep exporting profitably at prices that squeeze rivals. The race for number one is really a race between American speed and Qatari cost.\"]},{\"id\":\"matters\",\"q\":\"What does the ranking mean for buyers and suppliers?\",\"h\":\"Two suppliers, a buyers' market\",\"p\":[\"For gas buyers the headline is leverage. With the United States and Qatar both expanding into a softening market, buyers gain choice and negotiating power through the late 2020s, and the smart ones lock low priced long term volume now. For suppliers and service firms, both buildouts are enormous capital programmes, and the winners are those who can prove scale, reliability and compliance to two very different customers.\",\"The deeper lesson for energy B2B is that market leadership is engineered, not inherited. Qatar held the lead for twenty years and still lost it to a faster builder; it now aims to win it back on cost and contracts. Compare how a major plays the same molecule in TotalEnergies' two pillar model<\/a>, and how the Gulf is repositioning gas in ADNOC's XRG bet<\/a>.\"]}],\"media\":{\"image\":{\"src\":\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/lng-gas-processing-export-terminal.jpg\",\"label\":\"The largest exporter title is decided at the liquefaction plant: whoever builds capacity fastest, and runs it cheapest, leads.\",\"credit\":\"Project 54\"},\"infographicLabel\":\"US 111 Mt, Qatar about 78 Mt, Australia about 75 Mt: the 2025 LNG export order, and Qatar's plan to retake number one.\",\"pdf\":{\"href\":\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/is-qatar-the-largest-lng-exporter.pdf\",\"title\":\"Is Qatar the Largest LNG Exporter, Slide Deck\",\"meta\":\"Project 54 \u00b7 The Energy Growth Brief\"}},\"poll\":{\"q\":\"The United States overtook Qatar as the largest LNG exporter. Who leads global LNG at the end of this decade?\",\"note\":\"No tallies. Each option maps to a real scenario.\",\"options\":[{\"id\":\"a\",\"label\":\"The United States stays number one\",\"insight\":\"Plausible. American capacity and newly approved projects are huge, and speed has been the winning trait. The risk is that low prices and tolling economics squeeze marginal US volume harder than Qatar's low cost supply.\"},{\"id\":\"b\",\"label\":\"Qatar retakes the lead\",\"insight\":\"This is Qatar's explicit goal via North Field to 142 Mtpa. Its cost edge means it can keep exporting when others cannot. The risk is timing and project slippage, with parts of the expansion drifting past 2030.\"},{\"id\":\"c\",\"label\":\"They effectively share it\",\"insight\":\"The most likely near term reality: two dominant low cost, high volume suppliers trading the top spot year to year while together controlling most new supply, with Australia a steady third.\"},{\"id\":\"d\",\"label\":\"A new entrant disrupts the order\",\"insight\":\"Least likely this decade. Others are growing, but none approach the scale of US or Qatari expansion; the top two are pulling away, not being caught.\"}]},\"faq\":[{\"q\":\"Is Qatar the largest LNG exporter?\",\"a\":\"No. As of 2025 the United States is the largest LNG exporter at about 111 million tonnes, roughly a quarter of the global market. Qatar is second at around 78 million tonnes, just ahead of Australia in third.\"},{\"q\":\"When did the United States overtake Qatar in LNG exports?\",\"a\":\"United States LNG exports outpaced Qatar's as American liquefaction capacity surged in the early 2020s, and by 2025 the United States shipped a record 111 million tonnes, the first country ever to pass 100 million tonnes in a single year, up 27 percent year on year.\"},{\"q\":\"How much LNG does Qatar export?\",\"a\":\"Qatar exports roughly 78 million tonnes of LNG a year from its current 77 million tonne capacity, placing it second globally. It plans to raise capacity to about 142 million tonnes a year by around 2030 through the North Field expansion.\"},{\"q\":\"Will Qatar become the largest LNG exporter again?\",\"a\":\"Qatar intends to. Its North Field expansion lifts capacity about 85 percent to 142 million tonnes a year by around 2030, and QatarEnergy says the programme will supply close to 40 percent of new global LNG this decade, aiming to reclaim the top spot from the United States.\"}],\"newsletter\":{\"kicker\":\"The Energy Growth Brief\",\"title\":[\"Intelligence,\",\"to your inbox\"],\"body\":\"Join energy and industrial leaders getting our marketing, AI-growth and revenue-architecture intelligence, direct, no filler.\",\"placeholder\":\"you@company.com\",\"cta\":\"Subscribe\",\"note\":\"No spam. Unsubscribe anytime. We read every reply.\"},\"related\":[{\"title\":\"Qatar's North Field LNG Expansion: The Market Share Play\",\"topic\":\"Analysis\",\"href\":\"https:\/\/projectfifty4.com\/qatar-north-field-lng-expansion-2026\/\"},{\"title\":\"United States Energy Dominance and the Oil Market\",\"topic\":\"Analysis\",\"href\":\"https:\/\/projectfifty4.com\/us-energy-dominance-spr-oil-market-2026\/\"},{\"title\":\"TotalEnergies' Two Pillar Bet: LNG Cash, Electricity Growth\",\"topic\":\"Analysis\",\"href\":\"https:\/\/projectfifty4.com\/totalenergies-two-pillar-strategy-lng-integrated-power\/\"},{\"title\":\"ADNOC's XRG: The Gas, Chemicals and AI Bet\",\"topic\":\"Analysis\",\"href\":\"https:\/\/projectfifty4.com\/adnoc-xrg-gas-chemicals-ai-bet\/\"}]}","p54_faq":"","p54_media":"","p54_comments_enabled":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[92,125],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-analysis","category-strategy"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/projectfifty4.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/projectfifty4.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/projectfifty4.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projectfifty4.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projectfifty4.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3930"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/projectfifty4.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3930\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3931,"href":"https:\/\/projectfifty4.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3930\/revisions\/3931"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projectfifty4.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/projectfifty4.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projectfifty4.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projectfifty4.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\u00bfC\u00f3mo perdi\u00f3 Qatar el liderato?<\/h2>\n
\u00bfPodr\u00e1 Qatar recuperar el primer puesto?<\/h2>\n
\u00bfQu\u00e9 significa esta clasificaci\u00f3n para compradores y proveedores?<\/h2>\n