Last Friday, the US and EC rubber stamped a historic agreement to ensure that Europe has enough gas storage ahead of the next two winters.
A joint Task Force on Energy Security will be established, which will be chaired by US White House and EC President representatives.
It will focus on:
• Ensuring additional LNG volumes of at least 15 bill cu m this year for the EU with expected increases going forward.
• To reduce the greenhouse gas intensity of all new LNG infrastructure and associated pipelines, through the use of clean energy to power onsite operations, the reduction of methane leakage and the construction of clean and renewable hydrogen ready infrastructure.
• The US will commit to review and act upon applications to permit any additional export LNG capacities to terminate EU dependence on Russian fossil fuels by 2027.
• The EC will also work with EU members to accelerate procedures to approve LNG import infrastructure, including onshore facilities and related pipelines to support imports using FSRUs and fixed LNG import terminals.
• Demand will be pooled through a newly established EU Energy platform for extra volumes between April and October, 2022. Long-term contracting mechanisms will be supported and EU members will partner with the US for the relevant contracting to support final investment decisions (FIDS) on both the LNG export and import infrastructures.
• The EC will also work towards more US LNG until at least 2030 amounting to around 50 bill cu m per annum. The price formula should reflect long-term market fundamentals, demand and supply stability and should be linked to the Henry Hub spot price and other stabilising factors.
• The EC has proposed energy storage regulations to ensure that the existing storage facilities are up to 90% full by 1st November each year, with specific phase-in provisions for 2022.
