The United States is on course to significantly expand its exports of liquefied natural gas following a landmark agreement announced on Friday, March 25. The deal will see the United States and other allies supply the European Union with an addition 15 billion cubic metres (bcm) of LNG this year.
The longer-term aim according to the White House, is to work with the EU to ensure stable demand for additional U.S. LNG until at least 2030 of approximately 50 bcm per year.
The sudden wave of support coming from the Biden administration towards the U.S. LNG industry been welcomed by lawmakers, think tanks and particularly those in the industry as a positive step forward.
Stavrous Lambrinidis, European Union ambassador to the United States (March 25):
“We are doing something that is devastating to Putin, we are decoupling ourselves in Europe from a dependency on Russian gas and Russian oil.”
Karen Pierce, UK ambassador to the United States (March 24):
“We are working with the Americans to get more LNG into Europe; we’ve come to an arrangement with the Port of Baltimore. … The LNG terminal in Baltimore will ship more LNG to the UK, and we’ll ship it onto Europe.”
Emily Haber, German ambassador to the United States (March 25):https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&features=eyJ0ZndfZXhwZXJpbWVudHNfY29va2llX2V4cGlyYXRpb24iOnsiYnVja2V0IjoxMjA5NjAwLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X3NwYWNlX2NhcmQiOnsiYnVja2V0Ijoib2ZmIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH19&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1507436734782521357&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.energyindepth.org%2Flandmark-lng-deal-is-welcome-news-in-both-the-united-states-and-europe%2F&sessionId=3458e8c8b579b05e94e71c147e92a297739baf07&theme=light&widgetsVersion=c8fe9736dd6fb%3A1649830956492&width=550px
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan (March 25):
“…we’re committing to make available up to 15 billion cubic meters additional LNG this year through a variety of different means. And then the Europeans will be working on building out their infrastructure to be able to accept up to 50 billion cubic meters — between now and 2030, per year — additional LNG flows from the United States.”
Amos Hochstein, Senior Advisor for Energy Security (March 25)
“We have to do a lot more, we have to invest more and we have to do it in a smart way…President Biden issued a letter together with the President of the EU just a few weeks ago stating that we are the largest LNG player in the world and our role is to support our European allies during this time.”
Rep. Garret Graves (R-LA) (March 24):
“Should this deal happen, it’s another step in the right direction and follows the Department of Energy’s decision to approve two LNG permits last week.”
Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) (March 28)
“We have a geopolitical opportunity right now to cut Putin’s malign influence and we should be taking full advantage of it.”
Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) (March 28)
“Their announcement still falls short of the course correction required to unleash American energy and resolve the energy crisis facing Americans and our allies. American resource development, especially natural gas, needs to be part of the long-term solution if we want to realistically solve the crisis at hand. We need to implement an all-of-the-above energy plan that prioritizes the infrastructure and permitting reform needed to leverage our world-class energy resources—which we have in abundance in the great state of Alaska.”
Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) (March 28)
“Instead of half measures, President Biden should commit his administration to unleashing clean American energy to free our allies from dependence on dirty Russian energy. Our resources and ingenuity can solve the current energy crisis hitting not only the United States but our allies around the world.”
Nikos Tsafos, James R. Schlesinger Chair for Energy and Geopolitics at Center for Strategic and International Studies (March 24):https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-1&features=eyJ0ZndfZXhwZXJpbWVudHNfY29va2llX2V4cGlyYXRpb24iOnsiYnVja2V0IjoxMjA5NjAwLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X3NwYWNlX2NhcmQiOnsiYnVja2V0Ijoib2ZmIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH19&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1506997657172074502&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.energyindepth.org%2Flandmark-lng-deal-is-welcome-news-in-both-the-united-states-and-europe%2F&sessionId=3458e8c8b579b05e94e71c147e92a297739baf07&theme=light&widgetsVersion=c8fe9736dd6fb%3A1649830956492&width=550px
Daniel Yergin, vice president of S&P Global (March 27)
“There is now a recognition that shale—and LNG in particular—is a real geopolitical asset.”
Charlie Riedl, Executive Director, Centre for Liquified Natural Gas (March 25):
“The LNG industry can build, but regulators must do their part to help expedite the essential infrastructure that is needed here and in Europe to meet those ambitious goals and help our European allies.”
Mike Sommers, President and CEO of API (March 25)
“Over the past few months, American producers have significantly expanded LNG shipments to our allies, establishing Europe as the top US LNG export destination. With effective policies on both sides of the Atlantic, we could do even more to support Europe’s long-term energy security and reduce their reliance on Russian energy.”
Tamar Essner, Vectis Energy Partners principal (March 25)
“The deal is really significant because it sends an important message to investors and industry companies that there is a long-term future for natural gas as part of the energy mix. We in the industry have always known that that was a sensible outcome.”
Domenic, J. Dell’osso, CEO and president, Chesapeake Energy (March 25)
“We are really encouraged that the Biden administration has taken the step to engage with the industry here and encourage more LNG delivery to Europe… When you think about what energy policymakers should be thinking across the world today there are really three big concerns; there is energy security, climate concerns and affordability and LNG from the US is the best balance to deliver against all three of those challenges.”
Toby Rice, CEO of LNG producer EQT Corp (March 28):
“We look at this announcement on Friday as the first step towards achieving our goals of providing energy security to the world. Biden’s posture on saying the US is going to play a major role in delivering natural gas security for European’s is a good first step this is the political signal that we needed to see.”