Cheniere’s sprawling, $20 billion terminal nearing completion in Sabine Pass, La., will eventually have the capacity to export 31.5 million tons of liquefied gas a year — more than any country with the exception of Qatar and Australia.

Mr. Souki, who has a taste for fancy double-breasted suits in Houston’s informal business world, has often defied conventional wisdom, and this time is no different. Many experts say that the fortunes for exports of liquefied natural gas, or L.N.G., have declined, and will not rebound anytime soon.

Adding to the pressure on Cheniere is a surge of new export projects, representing nearly a 50 percent increase in global capacity, that is due to come on line over the next five years at a time when Indian demand is falling and Chinese demand is far softer than most experts expected a few years ago. In Europe, gas demand is squeezed by renewable energy like solar and wind that receive big public subsidies and cheap coal imported from the United States.

“There is a lot of supply coming to market in a very short time from Australia and the U.S.,” said Faisel Khan, a Citigroup managing director and energy expert, “and that is causing an oversupply over the next three to five years that could extend further than that depending upon demand from China, which may or may not show up.”

Mr. Souki and other executives finance their projects by first lining up long-term supply commitments that guarantee revenue to pay off debts. But Mr. Souki was planning on making 20 percent of his terminal sales on the spot market, where arbitrage profits can be huge when world oil and gas prices are high and American gas prices are low. Other companies have similar approaches.