President Biden and European leaders announced a deal on Friday to increase U.S. shipments of natural gas to Europe. It was not clear how the administration would achieve its goals.
Roughly 10 to 12 percent of US natural gas exports are to all countries, according to the deal. It didn't address the lack of port capacity to ship and receive gas on both sides of the Atlantic. The Biden administration can order U.S. exporters to sell gas to European buyers or set prices that are acceptable to sellers and buyers.
American gas executives welcomed a renewed emphasis on exports as a sign that the Biden administration was trying to promote the U.S. oil and gas industry rather than punish it for its contributions to climate change.
Charif Souki, executive chairman of Tell, said he didn't want to criticize them because they were trying to do the right thing.
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the vice president of the United States, Joe Biden, offered few details during a joint announcement. Many of the specifics would be worked out by a task force dedicated to reducing Europe's dependency on Russian oil and gas in ways that would not undermine the climate policies of the two partners.
We have to make sure that families in Europe can get through this winter and the next while we build an infrastructure for a clean energy future, Mr. Biden said.
Russia is a big producer of oil, diesel, coal and natural gas, which is important to the European Union. The European Union is trying to punish Putin for invading Ukraine. Europe gets about 40 percent of its natural gas from Russia, and most of it is shipped through Ukraine.
Germany said on Friday that it would reduce its imports of Russian oil and coal this year and end its imports of Russian natural gas by the middle of the next decade. Robert Habeck, Germany's vice chancellor and economic minister, said in Berlin that the shift away from Russian gas was happening at an insane pace. He said that every supply contract that is terminated hurts Putin.
In the last few months, American exporters have been shifting sales to Europe from Asia due to higher prices in Europe and the war in Ukraine. More than 75% of U.S. L.N.G. exports have gone to Europe so far this year.
L.N.G., a type of natural gas, will be shipped to Europe every year by the Biden administration. The United States shipped a lot of gas to Europe.
"That is mostly what is happening already, so I don't know what this does beyond recognizing what is already happening."
The Center for Liquefied Natural Gas, a trade group, has an executive director who thinks that it can be done. Two-thirds of the total could come from diverted shipments that otherwise would be bound for Asia, and the rest could come from recent federal approvals for additional production from existing American L.N.G. export terminals.
Mr. Riedl said it was a positive sign that Europe was trying to wean itself off of Russian gas.
The Biden administration could help increase the flow of gas by streamlining permitting for new U.S. export terminals. The European Union and the United States could provide loan guarantees. There are a number of U.S. export terminals that need financing to be built. The new European import terminals are being built.
Investments of up to $10 billion are required for export terminals, while import terminals cost about $1 billion to build. Europe has 28 large-scale import terminals and the United States has seven.
Environmentalists are concerned that the announcement will commit the United States and Europe to using fossil fuels for decades longer than they argue is feasible.
There are shortages of essential metals. Russia is the world's largest exporter of the metal and the price of it has gone up as a result. The price of nickel, a key Russian export, has been rising.
Financial turmoil. Russia's access to foreign capital and its ability to process payments in dollars, euros and other currencies will be affected by the sanctions. Russia is also on alert for cyberattacks.
The president of Earth said there is no way to ramp up U.S. L.N.G. exports and deliver on climate commitments. She warned that the L.N.G. infrastructure would lock in expensive fossil dependence and dangerous pollution for decades to come.
American and European officials agreed to work on ways to decrease greenhouse gas emissions from L.N.G. infrastructure and to reduce the escape of methane from gas operations.
The United States is a net exporter of energy and banning Russian imports is easy. Some U.S. lawmakers would like the EU to stop buying oil and gas from Russia, but the idea has been rejected by several E.U. leaders, who see it as a financially disastrous step that would hurt Europe more than Russia.
The E.U. could be left with little choice but to bar the purchase of Russian energy if Mr. Putin decided to use chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.
At the announcement with Mr. Biden, Ms. von der Leyen of the European Commission said that Europeans should look for suppliers that are friends and reliable.
The Friday announcement was a welcome change in tone for oil and gas executives who have been criticized for not doing enough to combat climate change. They said that Mr. Biden and Ms. von der Leyen would have to be aware that the decisions on who sold gas to whom would be made by private companies.
Tellurian's Mr. Souki said that this is a capitalist system. The government can't tell us where to send gas.
Christopher Schuetze and Matina Stevis-Gridneff contributed to the report.
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