PASCAGOULA, Miss. — The nationwide shale boom has given the United States the potential of being a major player in the world natural gas market, exporting a product it once imported. And that could be good for the $1.1 billion Gulf LNG in Pascagoula. It opened near the Bayou Casotte Ship Channel in 2011 to import liquefied natural gas, but now the profit is in exporting. Gulf LNG obtained federal approval in 2012 from the U.S. Department of Energy to export 11.5 million tons of LNG a year to countries approved under the Free Trade Agreement, such as Australia, Canada and some in South and Central America. The plant would pipe in domestic natural gas, cool it to a liquid and ship it on tankers out of the Port of Pascagoula. (Source: Sun Herald, 04/19/14)