American exports of natural gas fluids reached a record in April, despite the fact that the commercial war between the US and China reduced shipments to the main buyer, as shown by ship tracking data.
Recent commercial events have threatened US exports of natural gas liquids (LGN), such as ethane, butane and propane, used to manufacture plastics and chemicals, as well as for heating and cooking. US exports have reached a new maximum every year since 2010 thanks to the abundance of cheap shale natural gas.
LGN, mainly extracted from Gross Natural Gas during their processing, are the latest energy products trapped in the growing commercial war between the two greatest economies in the world.
Almost half of the American exports of Ethane go to China, and all Chinese imports of ethane come from the United States, without practically options from alternative sources, according to the statistical arm of the US government. Chinese petrochemical companies use it as raw material because it is cheaper than alternative gasoline, while American oil and gas producers need China to buy their natural gas liquids, since the national supply exceeds demand.
In April, the US exported about 2.9 million barrels per day (BPD) of LGN, a record figure, according to data from the Kpler and Vortexa ship tracking companies.
But exports to China fell 35% to 619,000 BPD in the month, they showed the Kpler data, the lowest since November 2023. China renounced the 125% tariff on ETANO imports from the US taxes at the beginning of this month, according to two sources to Reuters this week.
Other countries increased their American LNG purchases in the global detour, compensating for the loss of Chinese purchases by the US.
-India far tripled your purchases to reach the record of 179,000 barrels per day, according to Kpler data.
Brazil duplicate its purchases up to 113,000 BPD, the highest level in five years, while Japan, the second largest American gas buyer, increased its shipments by 64% to almost 400,000 BPD, the highest level since February 2023.
American ETANO production will increase 3.6% to 2.9 million BPD this year, according to the forecasts of the Energy Information Administration, which adds that most of this production growth will be exported to supply the growing international demand.
“The market has already been getting to work to redirect barrels among the largest suppliers of liquefied oil gas in the world (a mixture of propane and butane), USA and the Middle East, and the largest importing countries, China and India,” said Jim Teague, executive co -director of Enterprise Products Partners 
EPDone of the main exporters of American natural gas fluids, in a call for quarterly results.
The company said it was not seeing an interruption of any of its exports of ethane, propane or butane.
Su rival Energy Transfer 
ETalso among the largest exporters of the US LNG.
Enterprise Products said that total LGN transport volumes by gas pipeline increased 5%, while the volumes of maritime terminals rose 11%. The LGN Transfer transport volumes increased 4% in the first quarter, while exports rose 5%.
