It’s been a long time coming, readers. President Trump has simply made the first decisive move.
This week, in a public speech in Warsaw, Poland, Trump called out Russia’s bullying ways and offered European customers the alternative they so desperately need.
Let’s back up for a moment…
You may already know that a large portion of European natural gas — and by extension, the region’s main energy supply — comes directly from Russia via pipeline.
This set up has been beneficial for both parties for a long time: Europe gets affordable natural gas from a neighbor, and Russia gets a steady stream of business.
Well… steady as long as Russia wants it to be that way.
You see, the problem with having such a large single source is that any interruptions in service can put millions of people at risk of losing their energy at any time.
Russia can, and has, turned off Europe’s power on a whim.
This happened most recently in 2014, when skirmishes between Russia and Ukraine caused the country’s natural gas supplies to be shut off for several months.
This and other similar incidents over the years have pushed European customers to search out ways to diversify their gas supplies.
Enter: U.S. shale.
High volumes of low-cost gas supply have made the U.S. a viable choice for a number of LNG importers around the world. Already, shipments have gone to countries in the Middle East, Asia, South America, and Europe.
Enough export terminals are expected to come online in the country within the next few years to put the U.S. on par with major exporters Australia and Qatar.
And just to bring the point home, President Trump said this:
“We are committed to securing your access to alternate sources of energy, so Poland and its neighbors are never again held hostage to a single supplier of energy.”
That’s one hell of a call-out on Russia.
We’ll know in coming months if it amounts to anything as U.S. LNG shipments increase in number, perhaps headed for more Europeans fed up with Russia’s bullying.
To continue reading about U.S. LNG in Europe, click here to read the CNBC article.
