The former U.S. Ambassador to the European Union between 2014 and 2017 on Thursday derided the U.S. plan to substantially increase U.S. LNG shipments to the EU.
'The idea of having significantly more U.S. LNG shipments to EU is absurd,' Anthony Gardner said.
Gardner on his Twitter account claimed that U.S. LNG would not be price competitive compared to piped gas.
His tweet comes after a meeting between the U.S. and the European Union on Wednesday, in which U.S. President Donald Trump and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker announced that a new pact on trade was agreed.
Following the meeting, Juncker said the U.S. would build additional terminals to facilitate EU imports of U.S. LNG.
'This is also a message for others,' Juncker said, perhaps alluding to Russia.
Trump said Wednesday the EU is going to be a 'very, very big buyer' of U.S. LNG. He also said the U.S. would make it easier for Brussels to purchase 'so they'll be able to diversify their energy supply, which they want very much to do, and we have plenty of it'.
Over the last five years the U.S. has increased global exports of LNG, often in direct competition with Russia.
Russia met around 40 percent of the EU's gas needs via pipelines in 2017.
In 2017, Russian exports to Europe, including Turkey, reached 194 billion cubic meters (bcm) - a historic record high.
The U.S. aims to increase its LNG share in the European gas market, and to reach this goal it plans to build LNG terminals
By Murat Temizer
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr