Jim Chanos’s bet that Cheniere Energy Inc.is set for a fall puts him in line with a growing chorus of analysts forecasting grim prospects for US natural gas exports.

Cheniere, whose largest stakeholder is activist investor Carl Icahn, has fallen almost 20% this year as the demand for natural gas has dwindled.

Cheniere named two Icahn Capital LP managing directors to its board days after Icahn, who is known for taking big stakes in companies and pushing for management change, took a stake in the company. The economic downturn that hit the Chinese markets rippled out into other Asian markets as well such as Hong Kong and Japan.

Multibillion-dollar liquefied natural gas projects are facing a hard future as a crash in energy markets strains producers’ resources and global demand for the fuel wanes. This is largely due to the weaker than expected performance of the Asian markets. By the end of the year, it plans to begin shipments from the U.S. Gulf Coast, making it the first exporter of gas sourced from the lower 48 states.

The IEA’s data also indicated towards the burden of the slowing demand and falling oil prices being felt by the suppliers.

The idea to short Cheniere came to Chanos while working on his bet against the Anglo Dutch company, Royal Dutch Shell. In forward tests since August 2012 these top small-cap stocks beat the market by an impressive 60.4 percentage points, returning 118% (read the details here). The company’s stock is now trading near its 52 week low of $53.80.

Hours after Chanos announced his short and questioned the cost benefit to customers who “basically lease the panels” in hopes of paying less for energy, SolarCity CEO Lyndon Rive told CNBC the Kynikos founder doesn’t have his facts straight.