ZCZC
BCN-27
US-EUROPE-GAS-OIL
US pitches Europe its gas as alternative to Russia’s
BRUSSELS, July 13, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – US Energy Secretary Rick Perry urged
European nations Thursday to boost their imports of American liquified
natural gas as an alternative to building new pipelines to Russia.
When President Donald Trump came out swinging against the Nord Stream 2
pipeline at the NATO summit, he accused Germany of selling itself and its
allies out to Russian influence.
But when Perry met with European Union officials, he took a less
geopolitical tack, focusing instead on the economic and technological
benefits of more trans-Atlantic trade.
“The United States does not support pipelines such as Nord Stream 2 and a
multi-line Turk Stream that will only increase reliance on a single source of
supply,” Perry told reporters.
The Nord Stream and Turk Stream developments are controversial because they
will connect Russian gas fields to the central European market, bypassing
neighbors like Ukraine.
This will, in the eyes of opponents, empower the Kremlin to bully its
former satellites in the east while making the western allies even more
beholden to Russian energy supplies.
Trump, who never misses a chance to accuse Angela Merkel’s Germany of free-
riding on US generosity, told NATO that Nord Stream 2 would make Berlin
“captive” to Russian interests.
But Perry, taking up the case at his first meeting of the EU-US Energy
Council, focused on the economic potential of receiving more shipments of
American LNG.
“The president has often discussed the concept of ‘American First’ and
don’t make any mistake about it. That doesn’t mean ‘America Alone’,” Perry
told a joint US-EU news conference.
“It means that when you’re thinking about a new market provider, when
you’re thinking about a new innovation partner, we want you to think about
America first,” he said.
In recent years, advances in extraction technology have made the United
States one of the leading producers of natural gas, a fossil fuel but one
that is relatively clean and efficient.
MORE/HR/1028
ZCZC
BCN-28
US-EUROPE-GAS-OIL 2 LAST BRUSSELS
According to the US Energy Information Adminstration, US exports of LNG
soared from 0.5 billion cubic feet per day in 2016 to 1.94 billion cubic feet
per day last year.
But more than half of US exports go to just three countries — Mexico,
South Korea, and China — and the European Commission says less than one
percent of Europe’s gas come from America.
Meanwhile, 41 percent of EU gas imports come from Russia.
Perry said that new LNG expert terminals are coming on line in the eastern
United States and that US and European scientists and engineers are working
togther to improve supply.
– Sanctions an option –
Some in Washington have called for Nord Stream 2 and its leaders, such as
its chairman former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, to be added to US
Treasury sanctions lists.
Perry said he would prefer not to go that route, but warned that “sanctions
are always an option.”
European Commission vice-president and head of the bloc’s energy team,
Maros Sefkovic, acknowledged that US LNG could in time be a “game-changer”.
But he said the priority for now was to secure gas from the Caspian Sea
region, while maintaining supplies of Russian gas through Ukrainian pipelines
beyond 2019.
The Kremlin has declared that Trump’s political attacks on Nord Stream 2
are “unfair competition.”
But Perry said America supports open competition and looked forward to
Monday’s much-anticipated summit between Trump and Russia’s President
Vladimir Putin.
“The president … thinks Nord Stream 2 is not in the EU’s best interest
and my bet is he’ll be more than happy to tell President Putin that, straight
to his face,” he said.
BSS/AFP/HR/1030