Trump
US President Donald Trump yesterday hailed his country's emergence as "the energy superpower of the world" during a speech at the opening of a new Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) export terminal in Cameron, Louisiana.
The US has recently come out of decade of energy dependence. In 2018, it became the world's largest energy producer ahead of Saudi Arabia and Russia in terms of oil and gas production.
The Energy Information Agency has predicted that by 2020, the United States will for the first time since the 1950s become a net exporter of energy.
Jeff Martin, CEO of Sempra Energy, majority owner of Cameron LNG said: "I think this celebration, in a large measure, is about America's energy renaissance."
Mr Martin went on to praise the President and the government as well as the workers who helped make it possible.
"The bottom line is, this administration and its forward-looking energy policies deserve a lot of credit for repositioning America as a leader in the global energy landscape," Martin said.
Also in attendance was European Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič in charge of the Energy Union. Following an agreement in July 2018, the European Union expressed a wish to diversify its energy supply and import more LNG from the US. By the end of April 2019, LNG exports from the US to the EU had increased by 272%. Vice-President Šefčovič attended the opening in this context.
Ahead of the visit, he said: "Transatlantic cooperation on LNG is a perfect match. Europe has an attractive, well-integrated gas market that is ready to welcome more competitively priced LNG from the US. By doing so, we will significantly boost Europe's energy security as well as open new business opportunities on both sides."
The visit by Mr Šefčovič comes a few weeks after US Energy Secretary Rick Perry visited Brussels to sign two LNG orders, equating the deal with the US liberation of Western Europe from Nazi occupation, 75 years previously.
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