PRESS TV
04/09/2014
In a 15-11 vote, the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Energy and Power passed the bill which was proposed by Rep. Cory Gardner (R-Colorado) after the crisis in Ukraine highlighted the country’s dependence on Russian gas.
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On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin called on the Ukrainian government to come to the negotiating table over its unpaid energy bills.
Putin said he had asked Moscow’s energy giant, Gazprom, to refrain from taking drastic measures against Ukraine until consultations are held between Moscow and Kiev.
In case the two sides fail to resolve the issue, the Russian gas giant has been ordered to receive payments for its gas supplies a month before deliveries are made to Ukraine.
Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama and his administration officials have assured Washington’s European allies that they will receive as much natural gas from the US as they need.
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“The United States is blessed with some additional energy sources that have been developed in part because of new technologies, and we've already licensed, authorized the export of as much natural gas each day as Europe uses each day,” he said.
Last week, also in Brussels, US Secretary of State John Kerry said, “Our new capacities as a gas producer and the approval of seven export licenses is going to help supply gas to global markets, and we look forward to doing that starting in 2015. And we will supply more gas than all of Europe consumes today.”
According to Foreign Policy, the 28 member states of the European Union consumed about 44.7 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day in 2013. Europe imported only 4.6 billion cubic feet of the natural gas it consumed per day in 2013 in the form of liquefied gas aboard massive tankers, which is the way US companies can export natural gas to Europe.
The US Department of Energy has already approved seven natural gas terminals which could export a total of about 9.2 billion cubic feet a day. The department is considering whether to approve the construction of 30 other plants that would, in theory, allow US firms to export nearly 27 billion cubic feet a day more to EU countries.
Moreover, the Foreign Policy report says, Europe is unlikely to be able to buy future American gas because US firms have already signed long-term contracts with Asian countries.
ISH/ISH