Posted on 06/04/2017 2:03:45 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
European leaders criticizing President Donald Trump’s Thursday decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord have also been lobbying the administration to fast-track the approval of liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminals.
ProPublica’s Andrew Revkin reported Friday that, while European leaders were “generally basking in the glow of the Paris Agreement,” they’ve been quietly lobbying Trump since February to fast-track approvals of multi-billion-dollar investments in U.S. LNG export terminals.
Maros Sefcovic, who heads the European Union’s commission on energy policy, told ProPublica in April that “LNG exports were a central focus of meetings earlier in the year in Washington with Trump administration officials” to get Europe off Russian-supplied gas.
That same month Secretary of Energy Rick Perry told an energy conference that Europeans “[w]e’re out in the public and they’re giving all these speeches about the Paris accord and all the things we’re going to do, and we get into private meetings, it’s like, ‘How do we get that LNG?'”
“Don’t get up on the front end and make all these speeches about how good you’re doing, when the fact of the matter is you’re not,” Perry said.
European politicians attacked Trump for leaving the deal, and claimed they will double down on it after the U.S. has left.
“We in Germany, in Europe and the world will band together to take more decisive action than ever to confront and successfully surmount major challenges to humanity such as climate change,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel, vowed Friday.
France’s President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday that his country won’t even consider the Trump administration’s offer to renegotiate the terms of the Paris climate deal.
“As the article points out, some (but not all) European countries have been pressing for alternatives to Russian pipeline gas for some time,” Richard D. Kauzlarich, former U.S. ambassador to the energy rich nation of Azerbaijan and Bosnia and a professor of energy geopolitics at George Mason University, told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “In particular, the Baltic states have been anxious to reduce their dependence on Russian gas and believe that US LNG can help in this regard.”
U.S. LNG exports will have political implications in Europe where about half the continent’s natural gas supply comes from state-owned Russian companies. Foreign policy experts see U.S. gas exports as a way to undermine Russia’s energy dominance in the region.
“Europe lacks a common energy policy, especially about Russian gas imports, so it is difficult for the EU to leverage either the US or Russia,” Kauzalarich said. “On the other hand, the Trump administration wants to expand US energy infrastructure especially gas pipelines and LNG port facilities so the capacity for US LNG exports to global markets – including Europe – will grow.”
About half of Europe’s imported natural gas comes from Russia. This dependence prevented many of America’s European allies from responding more forcefully to Russian actions in Syria and Ukraine.
The rise of the U.S. as a major exporter of natural gas is an enormous change in the way the E.U. could get its electricity and heat. Though Russian state-owned media denies it, most experts agree that merely selling U.S. natural gas to other countries will seriously undermine Russia’s lucrative energy hegemony. It will allow for European and Asian countries to have a much broader choice of natural gas suppliers.
“In response to Qatar LNG exports to Europe and the potential US LNG exports, Gazprom [Russia’s state controlled gas company] has become concerned about maintaining market share,” Kauzalarich said. “In some cases, it has been willing to renegotiate contracts downward to compete.”
Russia has used its gas as a political tool to keep Eastern European countries on a tight leash. Russia interrupted natural gas supplies at least three times since 2006 to put political pressure on Eastern European countries, like Ukraine, Poland and the Baltic states. The U.S. sent its first shipment of LNG to Europe in January 2016.
For these countries, increasing American natural gas exports allowed them to reduce their dependence on Russian gas and switch suppliers. Increased competition for natural gas in the world market has already reduced Russia’s bargaining power and export revenue. North American LNG exports could compete against Russian gas, forcing the country to rethink how it treats customers.
The Department of Energy (DOE) gave a Texas-based energy company permission in April to export liquefied natural gas to countries with which the U.S. does not have free trade agreements.
U.S. consumers would deal with minimal costs to export LNG and would reap huge economic benefits, according to a study published in December 2015 by the DOE. The study found that exporting American LNG would provide huge environmental benefits as well, stating that exporting LNG will help “address a variety of environmental concerns in the power‐generation sector.”
Exporting natural gas is likely to be a growth industry, as global demand for natural gas is expected to be 50 percent higher by 2035 than it is now, according to the International Energy Agency. Demand for imports of LNG increased 27 percent in the United Kingdom last year alone.
Freeze Your Asses Off In The Dark
It’s those pesky Russians again.
Freeze them or bankrupt them!
Good choices for us. Not so good for the Eurotrashers wanting to be warm.
Of course with Gorebull Warming, they may not need our NG!
I am 66 and the weather/climate is the same here in Texas as it was 66 years ago. No hotter, no colder. Summers are HOT, Winters are COLD, Spring and Fall can vary but usually pretty nice. I don’t see any change. I have read about 45 books on climate, so far....
Allow Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Slovakia, Hungary, and the Czech Republic purchase our LNG. Nothing west of the Polish/Slovakian/Czech borders.
The most important energy issue in the world, for any country, is not CO2 emissions, but energy independence. And if you can’t be energy independent, to have a multiplicity of energy sources so you aren’t beholden to any one supplier.
We are already essentially energy independent in fuel for electrical generation, coal and natural gas. With some effort we could become independent in transportation fuels, or at least independent of sources outside our hemisphere.
Wind and solar don’t replace transportation fuels. They don’t even replace coal and natural gas.
Good strategery...
Pres. Trump rained on their profiteering parade. Boo hoo.
Now is the time for the US to export LNG to Europe in order to:
Supply Europe with clean gas and drive them out of Putin’s clutches(who is presently Europe’s main supplier of gas)
Take advantage of the higher LNG world demand(we will be supplying LNG to China also)
Increase the number of jobs in the field of LNG engineering and construction in the US.(LNG liquefaction facilities, pipelines and coastal export facilities).
LNG = MAGA!
Right now I am sitting on a small Lake in NEPA in the center of the fracking revolution, 10 miles north is Southern Tier of New York, which sits on the thickest (and potentially the richest) part of the Marcellus Shale. But because of Il Duce Jr. His Royal Snideness Prince Andrew Cuomo fiat decision to ban fracking in the most depressed areas of an already horribly overtaxed and under performing Upstate New York. It is sickening to listen to my scanner and hear overdose after overdose, some saved, too many lost. The “Progressives” in New York have strangled the state and created a mafia like economy, dictated by a Queens thug with no personality and no morals.
Someday justice will reign, but I hope to hell I am long gone from here, which hurts deeply as this was my Hometown, as it was Rod Serlings... we truly live in the Twilight Zone.
You hit it in the head with the southern tier. They could be having a manufacturing Renaissance with cheap natural gas piped right into the building but Gov. Cueball won’t allow it. The potential for thousnads of good middle class jobs goes down the crapper.
Many areas of Rural Upstate NY is destined to be tabacco road for a long time to come.
Valero has been building deep water terminals to accommodate super tankers for several years.
Thatcher was more interested in the contracts for GEC that the pipeline would generate, not how Europe would be more energy-dependent on the USSR.
US authorises LNG export from offshore JV with India
Exports in the amount of 1.8 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of natural gas are approved from Delfin LNG's proposed offshore Louisiana floating terminal, the Department of Energy said.
Exports in the amount of 1.8 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of natural gas are approved from Delfin LNG's proposed offshore Louisiana floating terminal, the Department of Energy said.
"I am pleased that with this authorisation that the administration can continue to strengthen the US as a dominant energy force with further exports of our abundant amounts of natural gas," US Energy Secretary Rick Perry said in a statement.
"Investing in American natural gas not only helps our economy and our jobs, but also helps our allies maintain their energy security. This represents a true win-win for everyone involved," Perry said.
With the rapid increase in domestic natural gas production, the US is transitioning to become a net exporter of natural gas, the Department of Energy said.
With this approval, the Department of Energy has authorised a total of 21 Bcf/d of natural gas exports to non- free trade agreement (non-FTA) countries from planned facilities in Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, and now, with Delfin, from the Gulf of Mexico.
The Delfin project would further position the US to become the predominant LNG supplier to the rest of the world, it said.
Delfin is targeting an in-service date in 2021/2022.
The Department determined that exports from the Delfin LNG terminal, jointly owned by the India and Singapore-based Fairwood Group and the US-based Peninsula group, for a period of 20 years, was not inconsistent with the public interest.
Noting that America's shale reserves have generated economic growth and jobs across the US, the Department of Energy said utilising this clean energy source has also enabled the US to achieve the largest drop in carbon emissions of all countries in 2016.
Department of Energy is eager to bring this clean burning resource and its benefits to all of its international trading partners, a media statement said. "Perry will take this message to Japan, and then to China for the Clean Energy and Mission Innovation ministerials, where he plans to strengthen the US-China LNG export partnership and continue working together towards a clean and affordable energy future," it said.
The Energy Department conducted an extensive review of the Delfin LNG, LLC application.
Among other factors, the Department considered the economic, energy security, and environmental impacts, including macroeconomic studies that showed positive benefits to the US economy in scenarios with LNG exports up to 28 Bcf/d.
Weuroweenies slamming Trump: Good rule of thumb to know he’s looking out for America.
The beauty of Trump is he doesn’t give a rat’s @$$ what people think.
Out 3 weeks ago I got into a nasty pissing match with a Fr-er who will remain nameless because I don't remember their tag, about Ivanka & Jared. I told them you didn't get them and the end result is we will end up selling Europe more Natural Gas! LOL !!!!
BL....
You are well read. All the countries you mentioned if I am not mistaken said no to “Refugees”. Reward them with LNG, Brilliant. They are Catholic and want to keep their culture. I have read some you mentioned have Shale formations and will eventually get to fracking...
My best, Taildragger
Well at least NY isn't like CT and IL @ Junk Bond status.... Yet.
Seriously I have friends in Up State and it is a bleeping shame what he is doing to those good folks. If he decided to all fracking in Up-State, the state of NY could go energy self-sufficient for starters. Or, with water close by why not large vessels to convert it to LNG for export? Heck grain ships go to Maumee OH to load up, and head overseas, why not from Up-State even if it means a small pipeline..
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