VILNIUS (Sputnik) — Liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies from the United States to Europe are changing the rules of European gas market, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite said Wednesday.
"US liquefied natural gas changes the playing field on the European gas market. It is an opportunity for the European Union to abandon dependence on Gazprom and ensure secure, competitive and diversified gas supplies," the Lithuanian president stated, as quoted by her press service, at a meeting with a US Congress delegation.
The first shipment of the US liquefied natural gas arrived at the port of Lithuania's Klaipeda on August 21.
Over recent years, Russian energy giant Gazprom has become a target of sanctions. According to some senior Russian and European officials, new sanctions imposed by the United States on Russia are aimed at squeezing Russian natural gas out of the European market and promoting US supplies instead.
France and Germany have so far spoken out against the bill as it affects European industries while advancing US commercial interests.
The Nord Stream 2 project presumes the construction of two gas pipelines with a combined annual capacity of 55 billion cubic meters of gas. The new pipeline is planned to be laid along the existing Nord Stream pipeline route from the Russian coast through the Baltic Sea, on to a hub in Germany.
