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Europe to America: We Want Your Gas - NationalJournal.com
Nations are forming a coalition with the U.S. energy industry to lobby for more natural-gas exports.
Nations are forming a coalition with the U.S. energy industry to lobby for more natural-gas exports.
The coalition, whose name will be LNG Allies, will lobby Washington on allowing these countries easier access to natural gas from the United States, where supplies have ballooned in recent years and domestic prices have plummeted compared with the rest of the world. Right now, federal law significantly restricts U.S. companies from exporting natural gas to countries that are not free-trade partners with United States, which includes Europe.
"These countries are all still very heavily dependent upon Russia, and they're excited about getting into the LNG [liquefied natural gas] marketplace, and are looking for not only U.S. gas, but good, solid business relationships," said the coalition's organizer, who works for the firm launching the coalition.
This source, who would speak only on the condition of anonymity since the coalition has not yet launched, said countries that are likely to be members of the group include Austria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and the Slovak Republic. These nine countries sent representatives to a meeting last month at the Lithuanian Embassy in Washington. Other potential members include Croatia, Hungary, Slovenia, Sweden, and Greece.
"The endgame for us is to break free from the manipulation of gas prices according to the crude-oil index," said Tzavela, whose party (the Europe of Freedom and Democracy group) is conservative by American standards. "This is what Gazprom has put on Europe." Gazprom, Russia's state-owned oil and natural-gas company, did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment. A call seeking comment to the Russian Embassy in Washington also was not returned.