US Seeks to Boost Supplies of Liquefied Natural Gas to EU

The US is finalizing a plan to supply the EU with up to 15bn additional cubic meters of liquefied natural gas by the end of 2022, Financial Times reported citing three people familiar with the matter.

The agreement aims to help the EU reduce its dependence on natural gas from Russia, with the bloc racing to curb Russian imports by two-thirds this year.

European countries have been thrown into disarray after Russian President Vladimir Putin said "unfriendly countries" who buy Russia's gas will now have to pay in rubles.

European countries buy some 40 percent of their total gas consumption from Russia, while the gas price in Europe has exceeded $1,350 per 1,000 cubic meters.

LNG deliveries from the US would go towards a goal, set by the EU this month, of replacing 50bn cm of gas currently supplied by Russia with alternative supplies. In 2021, the US supplied Europe with 22bn cm, according to EU data.

Joe Biden, US president, and Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission president, hope to announce the agreement on Friday morning. The White House declined to comment.

“It is about additional LNG from the United States for the European Union, thus replacing the Russian LNG we had so far,” Von der Leyen said on Thursday.

The EU is under intense pressure to bar imports of Russian energy, but German chancellor Olaf Scholz has warned against an immediate ban on the country’s fossil fuels, saying such a move could trigger a recession.