FEWER RESTRICTIONS ON CERTAIN NATURAL GAS IMPORTS AND EXPORTS.

SEC. 201. FEWER RESTRICTIONS ON CERTAIN NATURAL GAS IMPORTS AND EXPORTS. Section 3 of the Natural Gas Act (15 U.S.C. 717b) is amended by inserting “(a)” before “After six months”; and by adding at the end the following new subsections: “(b) With respect to natural gas which is imported into the United States from a nation with which there is in effect a free trade agreement requiring national treatment for trade in natural gas, and with respect to liquefied natural gas— “(1) the importation of such natural gas shall be treated as a ‘first sale’ within the meaning of section 2(21) of the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978; and “(2) the Commission shall not, on the basis of national origin, treat any such imported natural gas on an unjust, unreasonable, unduly discriminatory, or preferential basis. “(c) For purposes of subsection (a), the importation of the natural gas referred to in subsection (b), or the exportation of natural gas to a nation with which there is in effect a free trade agreement requiring national treatment for trade in natural gas, shall be deemed to be consistent with the public interest, and applications for such importation or exportation shall be granted without modification or delay.”.