Few Americans likely noticed last week that Denmark refused to grant a permit for finishing construction of the Russian natural gas pipeline Nord Stream 2, but its international significance is enormous. Denmark’s refusal is the latest chapter in a story of how good intentions in fighting climate change go bad. It is a cautionary tale of how a country – in this case, Germany – while seeking to make itself and its energy use cleaner, more efficient and more self-sufficient, can produce the opposite of all three. As climate change becomes more of an issue in America heading into the 2020 election season, Nord Stream 2 provides a case study of the…
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About LNG from USA
Jarosław Kaczyński wrote in a letter on the occasion of the first LNG delivery from the USA under a long-term agreement of PGNiG-Cheniere that American gas is cheaper than that from the Yamal contract by 20-30 percent. This is obvious obviousness, and the breakthrough is something else – says Wojciech Jakóbik, editor-in-chief of BiznesAlert.pl. The President of Law and Justice compared the price of the Yamal contract with the offer for LNG from the USA under the Cheniere-PGNiG contract. He did not say anything new. While signing the supply agreement from Cheniere in November 2018, the president of PGNiG Piotr Woźniak declared that the contract is 20-30 percent cheaper than the Russian offerfrom the…
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Enact US sanctions against Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline
Contrary to some claims, a bipartisan bill proposing targeted sanctions for those involved in the construction of a Russian gas pipeline will not hit major EU energy companies. Additionally, liquefied natural gas (LNG) is not an easily deployable alternative to sanctions. All arguments deployed against Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Jeanne Shaheen’s (D-N.H.) sanctions bill overlook the scale of European support for action against Nord Stream 2. It is true that the German government, and certainly the Social Democratic Party, is opposed to sanctions. But they do not speak for all 28 member states of the European Union. The European Parliament already voted in December 433 to 105 in favor of canceling Nord…
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President Kaczyński: The price of gas imported from America is almost one third lower than the price of gas imported from Russia.
By becoming dependent on gas supplies from Russia, we are strengthening our political and economic sovereignty – Jarosław Kaczyński, PiS president, wrote in a letter read out on Friday in the gas station in Świnoujście. He added that gas from the USA is almost one third cheaper than Russian gas. Kaczyński’s letter was read by the Government Plenipotentiary for strategic energy infrastructure Piotr Naimski during the official, ceremonial reception in Świnoujście of the first LNG cargo delivered from the USA under long-term contracts with Cheniere. As explained by Naimski, the letter is addressed to the president of PGNiG Piotr Woźniak. The implementation of this contract is a milestone in the sphere of…
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Die EU hat Trump höhere US-Flüssiggasimporte zugesagt – doch der Deal ist in Gefahr
Bis 2023 will die Europäische Union die Importe von US-Flüssiggas verdoppeln. Doch Russland und Saudi-Arabien könnten den Plan durchkreuzen. BerlinDie Gefahr droht aus zwei entgegengesetzten Richtungen, und dazu noch von zwei Staaten, die früher einmal Erzfeinde waren: Russlandund Saudi-Arabien. Die EU hat den USA zugesagt, bis 2023 die Importe von US-Flüssiggas bis 2023 auf acht Milliarden Kubikmeter pro Jahr zu verdoppeln. Doch Moskau und Riad wollen auf diesem Markt auch mitmischen. So war der russische Gaskonzern Novatek im Februar erstmals der größte Importeur von verflüssigtem Erdgas (LNG) in Europa. Und der Oligarchen-Konzern hat noch größere Projekte in der Pipeline. Russland ist bereits größter Gaslieferant Europas – aber bisher ausschließlich über Pipelines. Und der…
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EU-Kommission will Flüssigerdgasimporte aus den USA auf acht Milliarden Kubikmeter verdoppeln
Union mit unterschiedlichen Aussagen zu Nord Stream 2 Die EU-Kommission hat am Rande einer LNG-Konferenz in Brüssel bekannt gegeben, dass sie plant, die im letzten Jahr um 272 Prozent gestiegene Einfuhr von amerikanischem Flüssigerdgas bis 2023 auf wenigstens acht Milliarden Kubikmeter jährlich zu verdoppeln. EU-Kommissionspräsident Jean-Claude Juncker hatte dem amerikanischen Präsidenten 2018 eine deutliche höhere Abnahme versprochen, um die von Trump angedrohten Zölle auf Automobile aus den EU-Mitgliedsländern zu verhindern (vgl. Juncker erkauft vorläufigen US-Verzicht auf Autozölle). Verpflichtung zur Abnahme von Mindestmengen Um die Abnahme weiter zu steigern, soll im schleswig-holsteinischen Brunsbüttel ein weiteres europäisches Flüssigerdgas-Terminal errichtet werden. Dem schleswig-holsteinischen FDP-Staatssekretär Thilo Rohlfs nach wird die Anlage etwa 450 Millionen Euro…
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Europe is Entering its Golden Age of Gas
In a 2011 report, the International Energy Agency (IEA) asked a provocative question: are we entering a golden age of gas? At the time, U.S. shale gas production was surging and new fields were coming online around the globe, encouraged by high oil prices. Gas, it seemed, was poised to “play a far more prominent role in the global energy mix.” Since 2011, the short answer to the IEA’s question has been ‘not yet,’ at least on a global scale. Though many of the IEA’s assumptions have been coming to fruition in the last two years, including major demand growth from China, major supply growth from unconventional sources, and low growth…
