“New sources are expected to come on-stream in the medium term with the U.S. Gulf Coast, the Canadian west coast and East Africa expanding markets and diversification,” he said.

However, the report says construction of infrastructure and expanding production, especially in Tanzania and Mozambique, faces the challenges of a “lack of institutional capacity, operational expertise as well as potential for delays resulting from governmental intervention.”

Mozambique is now the third-largest exporter of LNG behind Qatar and Australia, according to the report.

Texas-based Anadarko Petroleum Corp. says it has discovered 35 Tcf to 65 Tcf of recoverable natural gas in Mozambique’s Rovuma basin. Four liquefaction trains with 5 MTPA each are being developed in the eastern Africa country.

In Angola, the Angola LNG consortium’s $10-billion plant sent its first LNG cargo after a delay in mid-2012 because of what officials said were workforce challenges, unanticipated fires and a last-minute change of plan to re-route the cargo to Brazil, instead of Mississippi’s Pascagoulas' re-gasification facility, operated by Gulf LNG, because market conditions in the U.S. “were no longer favourable due to the gas glut caused by the boom in unconventional gas.”

“First, gas at Angola LNG is an important milestone in support of our strategic plan to grow our production,” said George Kirkland, Chevron’s vice chairman, in August. The Angola LNG plant is owned by Sonangol (22.8%) and Chevron (36.4%), Total (13.6%), BP (13.6%) and ENI (13.6%).

Angola LNG says the plant has a capacity of 5.2 million tons (6.8 Bcm) per year; 360,000 cm of full-containment LNG storage, LPG and condensate storage; and a loading jetty sized to accommodate ships up to 210 cm.

Angola LNG CEO Artur Pereira told the media in June, “Angola LNG is entering the market at an exciting time. The world LNG market is expected to remain tight over the coming years, with very limited new LNG capacity.”

Angola’s production more than tripled between 1990 and 2011, from 98 Bcf to 400 Bcf last year. The country had 10.95 Tcf of proven natural-gas reserves by 2011, the second largest in sub-Saharan Africa after Nigeria.

EIA says that, after shipping its first LNG cargo, Angola “is in a position to capitalize on the high local and international demand for liquefied natural gas to bolster its export portfolio.”

Algeria, the second-largest gas supplier to Europe, exported an estimated 11 MT of natural gas in 2012 and now is rebuilding its liquefaction facilities, Arzew LNG Train—under a contract by Italy’s oil-and-gas contractor Saipem S.p.A.—and also a Skikda facility, both with a combined capacity of 9.2 MTPA.

EIA says BG Group, the world leader in natural gas, along with Houston-based Marathon Oil, Chevron and Anadarko, are among the developers that have expressed interest in investing in LNG projects in Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique and Tanzania by 2018.