Natural gas reserves around the world are about 6,300 trillion cubic feet (Tcf), or about 60 times world annual usage. Much of this gas is "stranded" because it is located in regions disconnected from consuming markets. This has led to a growing LNG industry.

In 2007, 15 countries exported about 172 million tonnes (8.7 Tcf) of natural gas as LNG.  The Pacific Basin is the largest LNG-producing region in the world, supply­ing 38% of all global exports in 2007. Countries in the Middle East, led by Qatar, exported 26% of all exports, while countries in the Atlantic Basin, led by Algeria, exported about 36%.  There are new projects under construction in Australia, Russia, Indonesia, Peru, Qatar and Nigeria and together with existing facility expansion, will increase annual liquefaction capacity by 90 million tonnes (4.6 Tcf) by 2011, increasing global capacity to 277 million tonnes (13.9 Tcf), which represents approximately 8% of 2007 global natural gas consumption.