U.S. Battles To Stop Europe Importing LNG from Russia

The Biden Administration, having done away with Europe’s Nord Stream gas pipeline from Russia, hooked Europe on American liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports, and is now starting to deny Europe new export permits for that same American LNG. It is also attempting to embargo Russia’s LNG supplies, which are being imported by some European countries. Arctic LNG 2, a project of Russia’s gas major Novatek, has been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury since the end of December. The other shareholders besides Russia include CNOOC of China and China National Petroleum Corporation, France’s TotalEnergies, and Japanese firms Mitsui Group and JOGMEC. TotalEnergies and some smaller European customers have withdrawn their orders. A new ice cutter for the project, built at a South Korean shipyard, has not been sent to Arctic LNG 2 yet.