The other day, we were talking with our think tank members and we were wondering why so many people were worried about the United States as an energy rich country exporting our natural gas to Europe or abroad? We have more natural gas than we need, and other nations would pay us handsomely for it. It is a matter of supply and demand. Since we have so much here at home that we can’t use, the prices have come down so much that more and more gas is being left in the ground, because it isn’t worth enough to go get. Let’s talk about this for second shall we?
In my personal opinion and those in the inner circle of our think russia ukraine news tank believe that efficiently exporting gas to Europe allows them to save money and not be so beholden to Russian influences. It’s a good idea. It may take 5-10 years we are told before Europe has the natural gas terminals to accept high volumes from the US.
Yes, but that’s okay it also puts Russia on notice and will probably lead to better international behavior, when they shut off a couple of Eastern Europe countries from gas in the middle of the winter, that wasn’t too cute. Also, some EU countries are still burning coal, and the coal is not like the coal we get from Gillette WY, it is sootier like coking coal from West Virginia, higher heat good for steel mills, but burning excess to generate electricity puts out too much soot. In Germany they burn brown coal and it makes a mess of everything, and it’s not healthy to breathe that air. Worse more is used in the wintertime and it doesn’t help anyone.
Gas is clean, and that is a beautiful thing for people living in countries that still burn coal. 5-10 years is a while, which is how long it might take to build all the natural gas port facilities in Europe to accept our exported gas, but if the price stays reasonable and it should, then these projects should be expedited, and if France and Germany continue on this anti-Nuclear kick due to public outcry ever since Fukishima, they’ll need the gas badly, and buying anything from Russia is not wise while they are playing the “Don’t worry, we are only taking over one-country,” Chamberlin trick. The CFR (Counsel on Foreign Relations) sure has some good write ups on the strategic importance of US exported gas to the EU, worthy of mention. Not really news anymore, but still a great ace-card to hold.
Obviously Russia doesn’t want us to export our natural gas to Europe because they like that lever to use in diplomacy to allow Europe to serve Russia’s will. But that doesn’t sit too well after Russia’s recent exploits of Ukraine. There are some Russian factions in the US that use propaganda and actually US citizen environmentalists to serve their cause. Let’s all be careful who we listen to as this debate is being discussed as part of our energy policy. None of this is as simple as it looks, but we need to think ahead. Please consider all this and think on it.