U.S. LNG exports hit second-highest monthly record, Europe pays near-crisis prices to secure winter gas

U.S. LNG exports reached 10.1 million metric tons in October, the second-highest monthly total on record. Europe took 6.89 million tons, nearly 1 million more than September, while European and Asian benchmark gas prices both averaged around $28 per million BTUs. Golden Pass LNG in Texas, owned by QatarEnergy and ExxonMobil, doubled its shipments to 4 cargoes. Europe is buying aggressively ahead of winter, with the supply market still carrying the scars of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and the loss of much of its pipeline gas. The United States is now supplying a growing share of that replacement fuel, putting American export terminals and Gulf Coast infrastructure at the center of Europe’s winter energy security.

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-lng-exports-hit-second-highest-monthly-level-record-europe-demand-surges-2026-11-02/

Europe’s benchmark gas price briefly topped €100 per megawatt hour on Wednesday, Oct 28, 2026, for the first time since 2022. EU gas storage was about 75% full on Oct 24, and Qatar’s LNG is mostly stuck behind the Strait of Hormuz. So who keeps Europe warm this winter? Increasingly, the US Gulf Coast: American LNG is about 30% of the EU’s total gas supply this year, according to the EU energy regulator ACER. Yet in the first half of 2026, US LNG exports to Asia rose 108% while exports to Europe rose 1%, according to the US Energy Information Administration. We explain why, make the strongest case against Europe’s new dependence on US gas, look at the January problem as the EU plans to stop Russian LNG imports from January 1, 2027, and end with four things to watch this winter.