Europe can absorb large quantities of gas as the demand continues to rise amid dwindling domestic output, but US liquefied natural gas is more needed in China, chief executives of Total and Eni said Saturday
DOHA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th December, 2019) Europe can absorb large quantities of gas as the demand continues to rise amid dwindling domestic output, but US liquefied natural gas is more needed in China, chief executives of Total and Eni said Saturday.The United States has been seeking to sell more to Europe, after recently becoming a net energy exporter, while trying to push Russian natural gas out of the EU market by passing a law that could block pipeline construction.
Total CEO Patrick Pouyanne told an energy panel at a Doha forum in Qatar that politicizing energy exports would not go down well with European market players, who are all privately owned utilities.
"We do not [act] because we have political orders to buy gas ... In Europe, there is room for more gas. The interest of Europe is to diversify the route of bringing gas. As much pipes, as much LNG terminals [as possible] is good for Europe," he said.
The standoff between the US and Russia over gas deliveries to Europe is good for European customers, Pouyanne added, because it puts a ceiling on the natural gas pricing. But he argued that Europe was the "last resort" market for American LNG.
"It is not a natural market for US LNG. The natural market for the US LNG is China. We [Total] are the largest investor in US LNG ... We did not invest in the US to go to Europe but to go to China and to Asia," he said.
Claudio Descalzi, the head of Italy's Eni, echoed the French energy chief, saying that "it is not really easy for the American LNG to reach Europe ... It is much better to go Far East for the US" because the shipping to Europe is done at a loss.
