WASHINGTON—Timing is everything in building any successful enterprise and the U.S. stands now at a critical moment in the development of a world-class LNG business, according to a Shell (NYSE: RDS.A) senior executive.

“Let’s not let this incredible moment pass us by,” Greg Guidry, Shell’s executive vice president of unconventionals, told the 2017 North American Gas Forum Oct. 2 in a keynote address.

He added: “The legacy we create for our future will come by either commission or omission” by the gas business and regulators. It is vital that they work together to get it right, Guidry said, because the U.S. enjoys major advantages over other LNG exporters that could be lost.

“We need more and better collaboration,” he added. “If we do it right, we can serve the world for years to come as the public sees gas as part of the solution and not part of the problem” environmentally.

He named four key points that must be addressed if the U.S. is to become the LNG supplier of choice:

  • “A clear and transparent” government policy;
  • Reduction of costs across the value chain;
  • “Have a handle” on the industry’s environmental footprint, including methane emissions; and
  • Relentlessly pursue new markets.

“Gas is the cleanest-burning hydrocarbon we have; it is part of the solution,” he said. Renewables will have a growing role in providing energy but there are industries, such as steel making, construction and petrochemicals, where gas will dominate.

LNG also will have a growing role as a swing fuel when renewables can’t meet demand. In addition to fueling quick-cycle plants that meet power demands when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine, Guidry cited Brazil as one example of a large-scale swing fuel market. The South American nation relies heavily on hydropower but a drought in recent years reduced its ability to generate electricity.

“When it doesn’t rain, Brazil needs large volumes of LNG” and, in fact, its purchases jumped by 800% this year as hydropower’s share of power generation slumped to 70% from 90%.

To compete for customers, U.S.-produced LNG “must be affordable. It must be as cheap as coal and renewables. The industry must be attractive and affordable.”

Guidry was one of several speakers to present on the forum’s opening day. Scott W. Tinker, director of the Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of Texas-Austin, reminded the audience in his opening keynote that one in six people on earth have no electricity at all, and that some who do have power have it on a limited basis. He cited the example of a family he visited in a remote Colombian village who only had a single electric bulb over the one bed the whole family shared.

Technically, they could be counted as having electricity but they still rely on wood for cooking and heating water for bathing.

Dan Grossman, national director of state programs, oil and gas, for the Environmental Defense Fund, provided “something different” on a program generally supportive of the oil and gas industry. He reminded the audience that environmental issues include “a diverse set of players” and that all need to be heard. He pointed to Colorado’s methane emissions law as a model that included industry input while limiting fugitive releases of the lightest hydrocarbon.

Anatol Feygin, executive vice president and chief commercial officer for Cheniere Energy Inc. (NYSE MKTS: LNG), said the company’s Sabine Pass plant in Cameron Parish, La., will load its 200th cargo during the fourth quarter. It shipped its first load of LNG in February 2016. He noted Cheniere has sent LNG to 25 of the 40 nations that have LNG import facilities.

Feygin discussed the issues Canadian producers are having in efforts to open a liquefaction plant on the British Columbia coast and, as a result, much of the gas moves into the U.S. “We’ve handled some molecules of Canadian gas,” he added.

Meg Gentle, president and CEO of Tellurian Inc. (NASDAQ: TELL), predicted “the next wave of construction [for LNG plants] has to start in 2018” if the U.S. expects to meet a looming LNG supply shortage projected to start in 2022 or 2023. It takes four to five years to build a liquefaction plant and terminal once it has all of its government approvals.

Gentle added destination flexibility must be a component of future sales contracts as the world moves to an open, free-trading market for LNG that is similar to the crude oil trading business.

Paul Hart can be reached at pdhart@hartenergy.com.