By Curtis Williams

HOUSTON, May 1 (Reuters) - The United States in April equaled its record for the largest volume of liquefied natural gas exported as capacity increased with the ramp-up of Venture Global's VG.N Plaquemines plant, LSEG data showed.

The U.S. is already the world's largest exporter of LNG and its capacity is expected to grow 20% in 2025 to 115 million tonnes after a record year in 2024, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

In April, the U.S. exported 9.3 million tonnes $(MT)$ of LNG, equaling the monthly record set in March, LSEG data showed.

Exports have been boosted this year by the startup of Venture Global's Plaquemines phase 1 project. The project has been producing at 140% of its design capacity, according to investment bank Tudor Pickering Holt & Co.

In April, Plaquemines exported 1.1 MT, up from March when it exported 0.82 MT, according to LSEG ship tracking data.

Europe was again the preferred market for U.S. LNG exports in April. The U.S. exported 6.3 MT of LNG to the continent in April, which represented 68% of its total exports for the month. This is slightly less than the 6.47 MT exported to Europe in March.

The U.S. sold 2.05 MT to Asia in April, more than the 1.64 MT it sold in March, as traders took advantage of higher prices in Asia, LSEG data showed.

In Europe, benchmark prices TRNLTTFMc1 averaged around $11.48 per mmBtu in April, down from $13.21 in March. One of the reasons prices have fallen in Europe is that Chinese buyers have been reselling their cargoes into Europe to avoid paying tariffs on them if they import them into China.

Asia's gas price benchmark, the Japan Korea Marker (JKM) JKMc1, averaged $12.23 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) in April, down from $13.50 in March.

Prices were higher in Asia than in Europe even though LNG demand from China in April was the weakest since October 2022, according to commodity analysts Kpler.

U.S. exports to Latin America increased slightly to 0.68 MT in April, up from 0.55 in March, as it benefited from reduced output at Atlantic LNG in Trinidad, according to LSEG data.

Atlantic LNG, which is owned by Shell SHEL.L and BP BP.L, exports to Latin America and sold two fewer cargoes in April than it has averaged in 2025, LSEG data showed.

The U.S. reduced exports to the Middle East with only one cargo sold to Egypt.

There were three other cargoes, for a total of 0.21 MT that left U.S. ports without a clear destination, according to LSEG data.

U.S. LNG exporters also paid less for their feed gas in April with the U.S. Henry Hub NGc1 benchmark in Louisiana averaging around $3.43 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), down from $4.14 in March.

(Reporting by Curtis Williams in Houston; Editing by Andrea Ricci)

((Curtis.Williams@thomsonreuters.com; +1 346 324 7560;))