HOUSTON, March 18 (Reuters) - Liquefied natural gas

(LNG) prices have fallen about a third over the past nine

months, propping up demand, which should tighten the LNG market

in the near-term, executives said on Monday at the CERAWeek

energy conference.

LNG prices have tumbled as supplies have swelled. LNG for

April delivery into northeast Asia was at $8.60 per million

British thermal units (mmBtu) last week, its lowest since April

2021.

Executives from companies including Chevron ( CVX ) and trading firm

Trafigura estimated that the decline in prices will likely spur

greater demand, while Wael Sawan, the CEO of Shell, said demand

is already increasing as a result of reduced prices.

"It's a pretty trite thing to say, but low prices fix low

prices," said Richard Holtum, global head of gas, power and

renewables for trading firm Trafigura.

"Gas prices are so low here, it's a competitive advantage"

he said.

Surging U.S. gas supplies and low prices have led companies

to propose several new LNG export plants. The flurry of new

proposals in turn prompted U.S. President Joe Biden's

administration to pause its reviews of permits for the export

plants, concerned so many new projects would undermine his

pledge to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.

The permit review pause will undermine U.S. dominance in

LNG exports, said Mike Sommers, president of industry trade

group American Petroleum Institute, said on Monday.

"We're losing market share to other countries as a

consequence of the LNG export pause," Sommers said.

Amos Hochstein, a White House energy advisor, defended

the pause given the huge increase in U.S. gas exports since they

began in 2016.

U.S. exported a record 8.6 million metric tons (MT) of the

superchilled gas in December and 8.3 MT in January.

"We're just going to take a look at what is the speed,

while not affecting the existing projects," Hochstein said.

The second half of the decade will lead to a 40 percent

increase in global LNG output, said Trafigura's Holtum.

Gunvor Chairman Torbjörn Törnqvist, meanwhile, estimated LNG

supply will jump by a third over the next five years. He said

there is not currently any tightness in the market and that gas

prices are likely to remain low given the abundance of supply.

Patrick Pouyanne, CEO of TotalEnergies, a leading exporter

of US LNG, echoed expectations for a increase in supply in the

later half of the decade.

"It will be very good for the buyers, good for the customers

and we will have the next generation of demand," he said.