(The Center Square) – A record-high 525.1 billion cubic feet of liquefied natural gas was exported by the U.S. in November as Turkey and other European countries stepped up purchases, Energy Department data shows.
Europe remained the largest importer of U.S. LNG, receiving 354.3 million metric tons in the month, 68% of all American exports. Asia took about 78.9 million metric tons, or 15%, according to the department’s report.
Turkey, whose state-owned pipeline company BOTAS signed several long-term supply deals with U.S. LNG exporters in the last two years, received a record 70 billion cubic feet of American gas in November, some of which will be re-exported to countries in southeast Europe.
Egypt also imported a significant amount of U.S. LNG. The country received 61.4 billion cubic feet of gas in the month. The United Kingdom, the Netherlands and France took 60.3 billion cubic feet, 43.6 billion cubic feet and 38.0 billion cubic feet, respectively.
In the last two years, Turkey’s pipeline company BOTAS has signed deals with global energy trader Mercuria, ExxonMobil and Woodside Energy to import up to 11 million metric tons of LNG each year, beginning in 2026 and continuing through 2045, as Turkey replaces supplies of gas produced in Russia and Iran that has been supplied by pipelines.
Turkish officials estimate the Mercuria deal alone will put it halfway toward meeting a $100 billion bilateral trade target established in a 2019 agreement between Turkey President Erdoğan and President Donald Trump. The pact was reaffirmed in talks between the two leaders in November.
The deals are part of Turkey’s strategy to leverage its investments in LNG regasification facilities and storage infrastructure and position itself as an energy hub for southeast Europe and the Balkan countries. BOTAS now supplies gas to customers in Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Moldova on the Trans-Balkan pipeline, which once sent gas from Russia to Turkey. Pipeline flows were reversed in 2024.
Teresa Ribera, the European Commission’s executive vice president for competition, on Tuesday warned the region is becoming increasingly reliant on U.S. LNG and said the development of local energy resources should be prioritized.
The European Union’s imports of U.S. LNG totaled 81 billion cubic meters in 2025, about 58% of regional supply, representing a fourfold increase from 2021.
“We are significantly increasing our dependence on liquefied natural gas imported from the U.S.,” Ribera said in a video message at a “Hydrogen Day” event Wednesday sponsored by Enagas, a Spanish energy infrastructure company.
The European Union now gets about 30% of its gas supply from Norway. In 2025, Norway provided the trade bloc about 87 billion cubic meters of the gas it consumed, compared with 81 billion cubic supplied by the U.S.
European Union Energy Commissioner Dan Jørgensen said Wednesday he is “increasingly concerned” about the bloc’s dependence on U.S. LNG. He warned against “replacing one dependency with another” and confirmed that the European Union is actively seeking gas from other suppliers that include Canada, Qatar and North Africa.
The European Union will step up efforts to diversify away from U.S. LNG following Trump’s threats to take control of Greenland, Jørgensen said Wednesday at a news conference in Brussels.
United Kingdom Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said at the North Sea Summit in Hamburg on Monday that the only way to “get off the roller-coaster of fossil fuels” is to accelerate development of offshore wind and other local sources of renewable energy.
