The United States’ shale fracking industry has built up so quickly that we are now poised to enter the export market with huge amounts of liquefied natural gas. One of the target markets for U.S. Sourced gas is Europe. This is expected to pose a significant threat to Russia’s dominance of the European gas market.
The Russian invasion of Crimea and the continued interference in Ukraine (by Russia, the US and Europe) must be making Europe insecure, because they are dependent on Russian gas.
The U.S. expects to be a big player in export markets now this LNG is flowing. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said, “We anticipate becoming big players, and I think we’ll have a big impact. We’re going to influence the whole LNG market.”
Four LNG export terminals are under construction and we may se the first exports being shipped overseas this year.
What Is The Reason For The U.S. Entering The Export Market Now?
Some Industry insiders think American exports could help the U.S. leapfrog Russia as the world’s biggest supplier of natural gas. The U.S. is also keen to lessen Russian influence over Europe, because some countries are almost entirely dependent on Russia for their energy needs.
For example, 88 percent of Poland’s energy imports come from Russia; Finland 76 percent, Sweden 54 percent, and Germany 46 percent, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The Telegraph reports, “Any future American cargoes would further erode [Russian energy giant] Gazprom’s pricing power in Europe, and erode the Kremlin’s political leverage. Due to improved drilling technology, U.S. drillers can produce a third more natural gas today with 280 rigs than they did in 2009 with 1,200 rigs.”
The Energy Market Player The U.S. Does Not Want To See
One player in the European energy market the U.S. does not want to see is Iran. Ir an has already offered to help Europe distance itself from Russia. That would be a strange bargain, because it is Russia that has been supporting Iran.
The message here is that Iran cannot be trusted, and the U.S. is leaping forward to ensure that Europe does not have to even think about making that kind of decision.
Can The U.S. Really Take Over From Russia?
This report from RT shows that it isn’t as easy as just saying “Make it so.”
