Reason #6993 That Trump Was Elected

From CTM at Watts Up With That: Trump’s ‘Energy Dominance’ Agenda Is Breaking Russia’s Grip On Poland

From The Daily Caller

Natural gas from the U.S. is flooding Polish markets as the European country seeks to loosen Russia’s grip on its energy security, The New York Times reports.

Russia supplies roughly half of Poland’s fuel, but long-term contracts with American companies signed by Poland’s state-owned gas giant PGNiG could displace all of Russia’s supply. U.S.-based companies Cheniere Energy, Venture Global LNG and Sempra Energy have all signed agreements with Poland in the last six months.

“The strategy of the company is just to forget about Eastern suppliers and especially about Gazprom,” PGNiG President Piotr Wozniak told The NYT. (RELATED: US Will Ship Gas To Poland For Next 24 Years)

Gazprom is Russia’s state-controlled gas company. Gazprom and Europe have a decades-long history of disputes over fuel supply and prices that have caused fuel shortages in many countries across the continent.

A major pipeline connecting Russia with much of Europe passes through Ukraine. Feuds between Gazprom and Ukraine have caused gas shortages across Europe. The disputesusually involve Gazprom negotiating with Ukraine to raise prices.

As the two countries work towards a deal, potentially millions across Europe, including Poland, may be left struggling to stay warm in the dead of winter. Such an event happened in January 2009, after which Poland began trying to diversify its fuel supply away from Russia.

I don't know if natural gas from the Dominion Cove Point gas export facility is getting to Poland, but if it's going anywhere across the pond, it's helping to weaken Putin's grip on Europe's testicles. The facility is constantly busy, with 2-3 ships per week, loading gas and taking it somewhere.

Related: Trump Admin Ecstatic with Late-Night Deal That Broke Deadlock Over Natural Gas Exports

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) broke a two-year partisan deadlock Thursday night to approve a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal in Louisiana.

Top Department of Energy (DOE) officials said this was a major breakthrough that will alleviate a growing problem for U.S. energy producers — a lack of export infrastructure.

“We have been promoting US energy around the world and today’s decision by the FERC is a very important one,” DOE Deputy Secretary Dan Brouillette told The Daily Caller News Foundation in an interview.

The Calcasieu Pass LNG export terminal is the first such project to get FERC approval in two years. Republican FERC commissioners Neil Chatterjee, the chairman and Bernard McNamee worked with Democrat Cheryl LaFleur to hash out an agreement to get her support.

Chatterjee and McNamee needed LaFleur’s vote to approve Calcasieu Pass, which they secured after working out a new approach to account for greenhouse gas emissions from the export facility.

“This is a tremendous breakthrough,” DOE Under Secretary of Energy Mark Menezes told TheDCNF. “We hope it will serve as an analytical template going forward.”

Once complete, Calcasieu Pass terminal will export up 12 million metric tons of LNG a year. Brouillette said the project already has buyers, including in Europe, waiting for American natural gas.

Linked at Pirate's Cove in the weekly Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup and links.