Natural Gas

Norwegian state energy company (Oslo Stock Exchange: EQNR; 67% owned by Norwegian government, HQ Stavanger; ~$150B revenue); world's 5th-largest natural gas supplier and the dominant supplier of natural gas to Europe via Norwegian North Sea pipeline infrastructure (Gassled pipeline network). Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and the subsequent sanctions on Russian gas (Gazprom), Equinor became the single most important gas supplier to continental Europe — Norway replaced Russia as Europe's largest gas supplier in 2022. For industrial gas companies (Linde, Air Liquide, Air Products European operations) using natural gas for Steam Methane Reforming (SMR) hydrogen production, Equinor's Norwegian pipeline gas is the critical feedstock. Equinor also operates in the US (Marcellus shale, Gulf of Mexico), Angola, Brazil, and Canada. The Norwegian government's 67% stake means European industrial hydrogen supply depends significantly on Norwegian state energy policy decisions.

EQT Corporation (Pittsburgh, PA; NYSE: EQT) is the largest US natural gas producer by volume and operates significant underground gas storage assets in West Virginia and Pennsylvania. EQT's storage is integrated with its Appalachian Basin production — depleted reservoir fields that serve as both production infrastructure and seasonal storage. EQT's storage fields in West Virginia (including storage along the Equitrans Midstream system, now an EQT subsidiary after the 2024 Equitrans acquisition for ~$5.5 billion) give EQT direct control over Appalachian gathering, compression, and storage. Equitrans Midstream operated the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP, ~303 miles from West Virginia to Virginia, completed June 2024) and associated gathering systems that include storage infrastructure. EQT's storage capacity is approximately 45 Bcf of working gas across its storage fields.

US LNG company (NYSE: LNG, HQ Houston TX); operator of Sabine Pass LNG (Sabine Parish, Louisiana — world's largest LNG export terminal by capacity, ~30 mtpa across 6 trains) and Corpus Christi LNG (Texas, ~15 mtpa across 3 trains). Cheniere was the first company to export LNG from the US Lower 48 (February 2016, Sabine Pass Train 1). By 2023 Cheniere exported ~45 mtpa of LNG, making it the single largest LNG exporter in the world. Cheniere's business model is toll-based: it liquefies gas at a fixed fee while customers source the gas — meaning Cheniere earns revenue whether gas prices are high or low. 70% of Cheniere's LNG is sold under 20-year fixed-price contracts; the remainder is marketed on spot markets. Same company that first proved US LNG exports now controls the world's largest LNG export terminal.