"Lawmakers ratcheted up pressure on the Obama administration on Tuesday to speed approval for companies to export natural gas, arguing it would help relieve a glut dampening output of the fuel."

"The Department of Energy, or DOE, 'does not seem to have a set timeline for decisions or a sense of urgency,' about approving exports of liquefied natural gas, or LNG, Representatives Gene Green, a Texas Democrat, and James Lankford, an Oklahoma Republican, said in a letter to Energy Secretary Steven Chu.

'Our region and our country need an outlet for natural gas production,' Green and Lankford said in a letter signed by 44 House lawmakers from Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Arkansas, 10 of whom were Democrats.

The U.S. natural gas surplus 'has produced very low prices for producers and an absence of market opportunities for natural gas, leading many wells to be shut in,' the letter said."

Timothy Gardner reports for Reuters August 8, 2012. [2]