Just weeks ago, Cheniere Energy, a $20 billion facility in Cameron Parish, made its historic first shipment of liquefied natural gas to South America.

On Monday, the company was in Lafayette to discuss the United States’ future role as a major natural gas exporter, which it said will generate billions.

“It really provides the U.S. a chance to become an energy leader, not just an energy consumer,” Matt Barr, Cheniere Energy’s director of government and public affairs, told local members of the America Petroleum Institute on Monday.

“Not just a large producer but actually a leader, being able to provide our allies with natural gas.”

According to a 2015 study by the federal Department of Energy, expanded development of liquefied natural gas would lead to 30,000 jobs and put $20billion into the U.S. economy annually.

Just in Louisiana, 74,000 jobs will come from LNG exports by 2045 with $16.2 billion in income from LNG export activity by 2035.

“So both of those numbers put Louisiana in the top two states for income received from LNG export and jobs created from LNG exports,” Barr said, adding that the second state is Texas.

The U.S. expansion of liquefied natural gas imports comes at a time when crude oil prices continue to sink.

The expansion won’t take away or become a substitute for the manufacturing industry, which is expected to eventually bounce back, Barr said.

“It’s not an either-or scenario,” he said Monday. “We can do all of the above because there is so much natural gas in the U.S.,” he said. “Proven reserves are there so that we don’t have to choose between manufacturing and LNG. We can do all of the above.”

Cheniere Energy broke ground in August 2012 on 1,000 acres in Cameron Parish’s marshland. The first six of its trains — a unit that liquefies, purifies and compresses natural gas for shipment — was recently completed. Train 2 is scheduled to be completed in August.

The entire facility will be in full operation by 2019.