As a country, we’ve gotten ourselves into a fine mess when it comes to gas. We’re the second or third largest liquefied natural gas exporter in the world, but we’re about to become an importer of it.

This isn’t the kind of intra-industry trade that led to Paul Krugman’s Nobel Prize. That involves consumers enjoying different varieties of goods, such as different types of clothing. But LNG from Australia, the US and Qatar is – not to be too cute about it – identical at the subatomic level.