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The top three LNG financiers between 2021 and 2024 were two Japanese banks — Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Mizuho Financial — and the US JPMorganChase. Each provided over US$10 billion for LNG expansion during this period. Among the top 10 banks supporting LNG expansion, five are US, three are Japanese, one is Canadian — the Royal Bank of Canada — and one is Spanish — Santander.

It is no surprise that these top funding banks are also involved in the project financing of LNG terminal projects. In September 2025, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Mizuho Financial provided US$1.9 billion each to the controversial Rio Grande LNG project, operated by NextDecade in South Texas. This project finance allowed the company to reach financial close for train 4 of the terminal. Together with train 5, this will bring the terminal’s total capacity to 27 Mtpa.

Eight European banks are among the top 20 biggest backers of LNG expansion

The largest European LNG backer is Santander, ranked 8th globally, and providing US$6.6 billion in finance. The massive amount of funding allocated by the Spanish bank propelled it to third place out of all banks in 2023, with US$2.9 billion provided for LNG expansion that year. This 2023 funding drive was due to Santander’s strong support for US-based specialized LNG developers like NextDecade, which received US$1.2 billion.

ING Group has, which adopted a policy to exclude financing for new LNG export terminals starting in 2026 (see the Policy section for more details), still ranks as the second-largest European backer of the main LNG developers, with US$5.7 billion committed between 2021 and 2024. The Dutch bank even ranked as the third-largest supporter of LNG expansion in 2022, having provided US$2.1 billion that year — US$1.7 billion going to Venture Global LNG.

Santander and ING Group continued to provide LNG financing in 2025, with dedicated deals directly aimed at supporting specific LNG terminals. In April and July 2025, Venture Global LNG’s Plaquemines LNG project received two bonds totaling US$6.5 billion — these were issued with the involvement of several banks, including Santander and ING Group. Each bank was responsible for raising US$591 million of the total bond.

France is notably overrepresented among the top financiers of LNG expansion: three of its four largest banks rank within the global top 20.

• Crédit Agricole ranks 14th globally and 3rd in Europe, with a total of US$5.6 billion in financing for LNG expansion. The bank is the largest global funder of Freeport LNG Investments and Port Arthur LNG. In 2021, Crédit Agricole provided US$1 billion to Freeport LNG. It also contributed US$622 million to Port Arthur LNG across 2023 and 2024 — matching the contributions of Scotiabank and Citigroup.
• Groupe BPCE ranks 18th globally, with a total of US$4.1 billion of total financing — despite being smaller than its French counterparts.
• Société Générale is in 20th position, with US$3.8 billion of total financing for LNG expansion. The bank participated in several large deals, notably in 2021, when it provided US$500 million to Moz LNG1 — the developer of TotalEnergies’ Mozambique LNG project — and US$485 million to Freeport LNG.

Some huge LNG export terminals in the US were backed by French banks through dedicated deals. In June 2025, Cheniere Energy’s Sabine Pass LNG export project issued a US$1 billion bond with the involvement of Crédit Agricole, Groupe BPCE, and Société Générale, alongside other European banks such as Santander, Standard Chartered, and Intesa Sanpaolo.