As the liquefied natural gas trade continues to grow and importers gleefully note incremental volumes of U.S. cargoes in a market that saw nearly 300 million tons change hands in 2017, the relatively new American exporters at the center of it all are invariably bringing profound changes along with them in a variety of ways.

Merely five years ago, importers Japan, South Korea and China collectively made up two-thirds of global LNG demand, and exporters Qatar, Australia and Malaysia collectively met around two-thirds of global demand.

In the main, the importers mix hasn’t altered much, except that China has overtaken South Korea as the world’s second-largest LNG importer, and will in all likelihood overtake Japan as well in the not too distant future, according to Royal Dutch Shell.