Global Energy Giants Rush to Expand LNG Supply as Middle East Crisis and Data Center Demand Reshape Gas Markets

A convergence of forces is driving a rapid buildup in global liquefied natural gas capacity, with major energy companies announcing expansion plans across four continents while a new BloombergNEF outlook warns that US data centers alone will consume more natural gas than nearly every country on earth within a decade.

Chevron is actively pursuing new LNG opportunities in Argentina, the Mediterranean, Africa, and Australia, according to Freeman Shaheen, President of Global Gas at Chevron. The push comes as the energy crisis sparked by the Middle East conflict, which disrupted LNG flows from Qatar and the UAE, has prompted buyers to seek diversified supply and new contracting structures. Chevron expects to reach roughly 20 million metric tonnes per annum of total LNG supply capacity, comprising 16 million tonnes from its own net gas production and 4 million tonnes contracted from the US Gulf Coast.

Exxon Mobil has raised its LNG sales forecast, projecting the United States will supply nearly a third of the world's LNG by 2030. The company expects to surpass 40 million metric tonnes per annum of LNG sales by that year, backed by four world-class projects under development including the Golden Pass facility in Port Arthur, Texas.

TC Energy is urging industry cooperation to meet what it calls generational natural gas demand growth. The company has forecast incremental North American gas demand through 2035 at 51 billion cubic feet per day, a 40 percent increase from 2025 levels, with power generation accounting for more than half of that increase as data centers and electrification accelerate.

The scale of that data center demand is underscored by BloombergNEF's new outlook, which projects US data center gas consumption will grow by 15 billion cubic feet per day over the ten years to 2035. That would place US data centers among the largest national gas consumers in the world, exceeded only by countries such as China and Russia. TotalEnergies separately flagged long-term potential in Angola's offshore oil, adding to a broader picture of major energy producers repositioning for a sustained period of elevated fossil fuel demand.