Strategy to use #LNG to smooth tensions on trade, #energy & #climate may fail to meet expectations

My trip to the US yielded some interesting insights into Trump's tit-for-tat deal-making diplomacy, as transatlantic relations have hit another low point amid #coronavirus

/thread https://twitter.com/cleanenergywire/status/1253615886822453249
2/ US-EU relations had been “in intensive care long before #coronavirus appeared,” wrote @JyShapiro & P. Gordon recently

#Climate & #energy policy no exception & current crisis deepens + accelerates this trend, @kirstenwestpha1 told me – EU & US “on completely different tracks”
3/ US officials have made no secret of using LNG as tool in diplomacy, thus politicising #NaturalGas in a way they disapprove of when other countries do the same; still, Trump admin touts the country’s own LNG as a “no-strings-attached” supply
4/ “To Europeans the #LNG gives them an option to get a supply not tied to any political pressure that may be applied regarding piped gas […] We are not using it as a political weapon,” @ENERGY’s dep ass sec for oil & gas told me in D.C.; said he does not use term #FreedomGas
5/ @BrookingsInst’s @samanthaenergy said while US gas supply is not in govt hands and thus country not set up to use it politically, “this particular president [Trump] has really wanted to do that”, viewing it as tool in trade negotiations

https://www.cleanenergywire.org/news/eu-should-pressure-us-over-gas-productions-climate-impact-former-us-energy-official
6/ Europe somewhat split as esp Eastern states welcome US #LNG as alterntv to Russian pipeline gas

For Poland, receiving LNG “certainly has its political connotations, but most impnt thing is that Poland gained a real diversification option,” @jmpandera of @ForumEnergii told me
7/ U.S. approach promoting #LNG might “feel pushy”, but makes things happen, said @ntsafos

“2019 was best year ever for final investm decisions in U.S. LNG projects, despite this politicisation & despite there being trade war with China”
8/ US govt expects LNG trade w/ Europe to grow. However, @CSISEnergy’ Tsafos says recent record imports of US #LNG in Europe were “accident of where market ended up”, not due to political declaration made by Trump & Juncker in 2018
9/ Thus, @ntsafos warns market could switch again, but cautions it’s “too soon to tell how US #LNG exports to Europe will fare over coming months” amid #coronavirus crisis; w/ several competing forces
10/ @ClarkWDerry agrees: “w/ econ turmoil we’re seeing, I think market participants believe global #LNG demand growth will slow, liquefaction capacity remains in surplus, prices will stay low + price spikes lower than in past. This doesn’t bode well for new US LNG projects.”
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