The $5.25 billion project to widen and deepen the Panama Canal could open up a multitude of opportunities for future LNG exports from the US.

The Caribbean could also prove a lucrative market on the nation’s doorstep with the US hotly tipped to become a major gas exporter, according to one gas industry expert.

To date, only Cheniere Energy’s Sabine Pass project has been given the green light for LNG exports from the US but many others are waiting in the wings.

Assuming they come on-stream, as seems likely, there could be a plethora of market outlets for US gas.

“With only one terminal actually approved for export it is hard to say exactly where it would go,” Jay Copan of the American Gas...