WASHINGTON/Houston, April 1 (Reuters) - The U.S. is

slated on Wednesday to rescind a policy issued by the

administration of former President Joe Biden that requires

liquefied natural gas, or LNG, projects to export within seven

years of receiving regulatory approval.

The LNG industry had pushed the administration of President

Donald Trump to rescind the policy statement issued in April

2023 on Department of Energy approvals for exports to big

markets in Europe and Asia because several projects require more

than seven years to complete.

"Henceforth, DOE will consider applications to extend an

authorization holder's export commencement deadline and grant

such extensions for good cause shown on a case-by-case basis, an

approach consistent with DOE's practice prior to the issuance of

the Policy Statement," said a document slated to be published in

the Federal Register on Wednesday.

Tala Goudarzi, principal deputy assistant secretary of the

Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management, said the Biden

administration had made it unnecessarily difficult for projects

to obtain and maintain an authorization to export LNG to

non-free-trade-agreement countries.

Pipeline operator Energy Transfer ( ET ) in 2023 filed for a

new export license for its proposed 16.45 million metric tons

per annum Lake Charles LNG facility in Louisiana, after the DOE

denied its request for a three-year extension to its old one,

saying it did not meet the criteria.

Energy Transfer ( ET ) was not immediately available for

comment.

Fred Hutchison, president and CEO of LNG Allies, a trade

group, called the previous deadline policy inflexible and said

the new policy marked a return to regular order.

"We are grateful that a commonsense approach has returned to

the U.S. LNG export process," Hutchison said.