The Mechanism
The State Department doesn't set energy prices. It doesn't need to. When Washington blacklists Russian pipeline gas, Iranian LNG cargoes, or Venezuelan crude-linked gas feedstock from reaching European and Asian buyers, it structurally removes supply from the global market. That removal widens the spread between Henry Hub — the U.S. benchmark, currently anchored near domestic production costs — and the TTF (Dutch Title Transfer Facility) or JKM (Japan-Korea Marker) prices that U.S. LNG exporters actually sell into. The bigger that spread, the more profitable every cargo that leaves Sabine Pass or Corpus Christi becomes. The State Department, in other words, is underwriting U.S. LNG margins every time it signs a new designations notice in the Federal Register.