* Asia Vision LNG tanker docks at Cheniere's export terminal
* First cargo may leave Sabine site by end of Feb - official (Adds U.S. natural gas export expectations)
By Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen
Feb 22 (Reuters) - A liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker onSunday docked at the Sabine Pass terminal in Louisiana, withonly days to go before the United States ships its first exportcargo of seaborne gas from the lower 48 states.
U.S. exports will add to a wave of supply coming fromAustralian projects at a time when demand is faltering in majorconsuming countries and prices plummeting in line with oil.
Expected to become an importer of LNG just a decade ago, theshale gas revolution in the United States that unlocked cheap,abundant supplies has wreaked havoc on global gas markets as LNGmeant for the country was redirected around the world.
Set to load the first shale gas to export markets, the AsiaVision LNG tanker docked at Cheniere Energy's SabinePass LNG terminal on Sunday, Reuters ship tracking data showed.
The tanker arrived in January in the Gulf of Mexico, but hasbeen anchored off the coast of the terminal after the firstshipment from the facility was delayed due to mechanicalproblems.
Another tanker, the Energy Atlantic, has also been waitingin the Gulf of Mexico to pick up LNG from Sabine Pass sinceJanuary.
Cheniere said it expected its first cargo to leave thefacility by the end of this month or in early March.
"We will export the first cargo shortly. Touch wood, it'llbe at the end of February or in early March," Andrew Walker,Cheniere Energy's vice president for strategy, said during anenergy industry event in Germany last week.
The company initially intended Sabine Pass as an LNG importterminal but will draw on shale gas production for exportsinstead.
AUSTRALIA RAMPS UP EXPORTS
First exports from Sabine Pass comes within days of theworld's most expensive LNG plant - the $54 billion Gorgonproject in Australia - shipping its first cargo.
"The timing is incredible," said Bernstein analyst NeilBeveridge.
Companies including Chevron Corp, Royal Dutch Shell and Exxon Mobil Corp have invested some $180billion in seven Australian LNG export plants ramping upproduction from 2015 to 2017, making the country the topexporter of the fuel ahead of Qatar.
"Sabine Pass will just add to the global oversupply," saidBeveridge, although he expects the facility to run belowcapacity for the time being because of weak demand and lowprices.
Four other U.S. projects have already broken ground,including Dominion Resources' Cove Point plant in Marylandexpected in 2017, Sempra Energy's Cameron LNG inLouisiana and Freeport LNG's plant in Texas expected in 2018,and Cheniere's Corpus Christi plant in Texas in 2019.
Once operational, Sabine Pass will be the first LNG exportterminal outside of Alaska. The United States has been exportingLNG mostly to Japan from Alaska since 1969.
With growth in pipeline exports to Mexico and LNG exports tothe world, the United States is expected to transition from anet importer of gas, mostly from Canada, to a net exporter by2017 as the nation's shale gas production continues to grow,according to federal energy forecasts.
The United States was last a net exporter of gas in 1957.
In 2015, the U.S. exported on average 0.07 billion cubicfeet per day from Alaska, according to federal data. That isexpected to rise to 0.5 bcfd in 2016 and 1.33 bcfd in 2017 withthe startup of the liquefaction units at Sabine Pass and otherLNG facilities, according to federal forecasts.
For comparison, the United States produces about 80 bcfd ofgas, according to federal data.
(Reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen; additional reporting byHenning Gloystein, Scott DiSavino in New York; Editing byChristian Schmollinger and Chizu Nomiyama)
