EU Eyes Gas From Qatar, Canada to Reduce Reliance on US LNG
(Bloomberg) -- The European Union’s energy chief said the bloc is growing increasingly concerned about its dependence on US liquefied natural gas, particularly in the wake of President Donald Trump’s threats to take over Greenland.
Recent events have been a “wake-up call” for the region, which now relies on the US for more than half its LNG supply, Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen said Wednesday. The bloc is actively looking at taking more from Canada, Qatar and North African countries, he said.
Trump’s promise to “own” Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark, and his threats to countries that try to impede his efforts have forced Europe to reassess its ties to the US across a range of sectors, including defense and energy. A trade deal last year included a commitment for the EU to buy $750 billion of American energy as the bloc diversified away from Russia.
“We are speaking to countries around the world that are able to deliver LNG to us,” Jorgensen told reporters in Brussels. “I definitely hear this when speaking to energy ministers and heads of state from all over Europe that there is a growing concern.”
Jorgensen said that in the coming weeks he would be meeting with possible LNG suppliers. Canada’s energy minister, Tim Hodgson, said in recent days that the country was looking to diversify its gas sales away from the US by boosting LNG exports elsewhere.
“We will never use our energy for coercion,” Hodgson said at a conference in India. “Canada used to provide 98% of its energy exports to a single country. We are committed to diversifying.”
The EU still receives about 15% of its LNG supplies from Moscow, but it recently agreed on a deal to phase out those imports.
Speaking to Tass news service on Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that in “rejecting the most competitive Russian pipeline gas or liquefied natural gas,” EU countries are “condemning themselves to dependence on a small number of gas sources, primarily the United States.”
He said the US sells gas “at a very high price.”
Trump and top US officials have relentlessly pitched the country’s LNG as a stable alternative.
“Several European nations have started long-term deals with US LNG suppliers to move away from Russian energy sources,” said Taylor Rogers, a White House spokeswoman. “Thanks to President Trump, US suppliers are the best, most reliable partners, and we will continue to work with European nations to meet their energy demands with US LNG.”
(Updates with White House comment from 10th paragraph.)
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