The U.S. Department of Energy has given a liquefied natural gas exporter operating in Louisiana and Texas permission for additional sales to every country entirely in Europe, the Associated Press reports, as they seek to move away from Russian oil and gas because of that country’s war against Ukraine.
As Europe works to phase out its reliance on Russian energy, “the world needs every molecule it can get” from other sources, says Dustin Meyer, the American Petroleum Institute’s vice president for natural gas markets.
Cheniere Energy Inc. says its Sabine Pass facility in Louisiana and its Corpus Christi plant in Texas have been improved and are making more gas than covered by previous export permits. Wednesday’s orders “will allow for additional operational flexibility for us and our customers during this pivotal time and for decades to come,” it said in a statement released by a public relations firm.
U.S. companies are already exporting at or near their maximum capacity and Wednesday’s orders mean “every operating U.S. LNG export project has approval from DOE to export its full capacity to any country where not prohibited by U.S. law or policy,” the energy department said in a news release. Read more.
