US gas firms push back on new ship rules

Another rift has opened between the US oil and gas industry and President Donald Trump; this time over new rules designed to encourage domestic shipbuilding and undermine China's maritime power.

- REBECCA ELLIOTT PETER EAVIS

This month, the Trump administration issued rules that require at least 1% of the natural gas shipped overseas to be carried on US-built tankers in 2029. The United States is the top global exporter of liquefied natural gas, or LNG — gas that has been chilled until it becomes a liquid so that it can be transported in large quantities. But it does not build any of the specialised ships used to send that fuel abroad.

In a letter to the administration last week, the American Petroleum Institute, the US oil and gas industry's main trade association, said the industry could not comply with that rule and urged officials to reconsider it.

The requirement “risks counteracting the significant progress the Trump administration has made towards reducing uncertainty and unleashing US LNG,” the trade group said in the letter, which was addressed to Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.

The maritime rules are the latest source of tension between oil and gas executives — many of whom contributed to Trump's campaign — and the administration. The industry is aligned with Trump on an array of key priorities, including exporting more LNG.