(March 22): With the United States about to become a net exporter of natural gas for the first time in 60 years, Intercontinental Exchange Inc (ICE) said on Wednesday it will soon begin trading a first-ever US liquefied natural gas (LNG) futures contract. ICE said the contracts will be cash-settled against the Platts LNG Gulf Coast Marker (GCM) price assessment and use Platts-derived US GCM LNG forward curves for daily settlement purposes. US gas producers, plagued by low domestic prices in recent years, are eager to sell into the international marketplace through LNG. The last time the country was a net exporter of gas on an annual basis was in 1957. That growth will propel the United States into the third biggest exporter of LNG by the end of 2020, according to S&P Global Platts, which provides the price assessment for the ICE contract.

Source: The Edge Markets March 22, 2017 12:56 UTC