UK And The U.S. Cooperate To Send More LNG To Europe

The United States and the United Kingdom have agreed to send more liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes from Baltimore to the UK and then on to Europe, the British Ambassador to the USA, Karen Pierce, told MSNBC in an interview on Thursday.  

The UK and the United States have come to an arrangement under which the LNG terminal in Baltimore will send more of the super-chilled fuel to the UK, and then the UK will further ship it onto Europe, Pierce noted. 

Since tensions between Russia and Ukraine flared up early this year, and especially after Putin invaded Ukraine a month ago, the U.S. and Europe have been working to arrange additional LNG cargoes for Europe, if possible, in order to get more supply in case Russian flows are interrupted for whatever reason and as a step toward weaning Europe off Russian gas.

U.S. President Joe Biden and European allies are expected to announce on Friday a plan to redirect gas to Europe and intensify sanctions against Russia, The Washington Post reported this week.

En route to Brussels, where President Biden is meeting with NATO and European allies, U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on Wednesday “the United States itself is acting now to help Europe on the issue of dependence on Russian gas, diverting cargoes to help increase the supply of gas—U.S. LNG—to Europe in the immediate term. And I think you can expect that the U.S. will look for ways to increase LNG supplies, surge LNG supplies to Europe not just over the course of years, but over the course of months as well.”

Europe–unlike the United States–cannot afford to go without Russian gas currently, so the European partners have been reluctant to slap sanctions or impose an embargo of imports of oil and gas from Russia.

The Russian war in Ukraine made Europe rethink its energy strategy and has now drafted plans to cut EU demand for Russian gas by two-thirds before the end of 2022 and completely by 2030, to replenish gas stocks for winter and ensure the provision of affordable, secure, and sustainable energy.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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