Tenth Anniversary Remarks

Opening Remarks: Ten Years of US-European LNG Cooperation
Fred H. Hutchison, President & CEO, LNG Allies

Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome.

Ten days ago at the Munich Security Conference, Secretary of State Rubio reminded us that America and Europe are “bound to one another by the deepest bonds nations could share,” that our histories and destinies are inextricably intertwined. He said that America “will always be a child of Europe.” And that is why, he remarked, “We want Europe to be strong. We believe that Europe must survive.”

I’m confident that many who watched that speech had the same reaction as the conference chairman, who said afterward: “Mr. Secretary, I’m not sure you heard the sigh of relief [that just passed] through this hall.”

Real or imagined, that “sigh of relief” tells you that the transatlantic bond still matters to the vast majority of American and European leaders and that the transatlantic partnership still endures.

Today and tomorrow here in Washington and Friday in Pittsburgh, we will celebrate what that partnership looks like in actual practice. It is a partnership reinforced not just through reassuring speeches, but through actual, tangible commitments…

When it comes to energy, those commitments include contracts for clean, abundant, U.S. natural gas liquefied and shipped across the ocean to fuel European homes, schools, and factories and to help secure our mutual prosperity.

This week marks a historic milestone—on February 24, 2016—the era of modern USLNG exports began when the first cargo departed Cheniere’s Sabine Pass export facility on the Gulf Coast, in Louisiana.

A decade later, the data tells a remarkable story. As of today, a dozen USLNG export project sponsors have signed 126 binding contracts totaling 221 million tons per annum with 69 companies from 26 nations. Europe represents 41% of total USLNG contracted volume at 90 million tons per year—the largest regional commitment worldwide.

European energy companies didn’t make those commitments on a whim. They didn’t sign 20-year contracts because of political pressure or empty promises. They signed them because they needed a partner they could trust. Energy that could be counted upon. A democracy that delivers.

And, yet, the whispering campaign keeps getting louder. On his way home from the Security Conference, my colleague Jason Bordoff from Columbia University reported that in Munich he heard several European leaders privately say they do not want to trade “dependence” on Russia for “dependence” on the United States. As Jason wrote, and I quote: “They worry that a future U.S. administration could weaponize gas exports amid broader economic disputes. They worry that if U.S. gas prices spike—because of a surge in demand for LNG exports and gas to power data centers, severe weather, or infrastructure bottlenecks and outages—politicians on both sides of the American aisle could call for export restrictions to ease high domestic prices. And they worry, albeit less so, that a future Democratic administration might impose some sort of export restrictions for climate reasons.”

But here’s what the data actually shows: USLNG exports have achieved institutional entrenchment across administrations. Obama approved Sabine Pass in 2011-2012, establishing the modern framework. Trump in his first term issued policy statements reiterating export authorization sanctity. Even Biden, despite environmental pressure and a year-long authorization “pause,” explicitly protected existing projects and those under construction. The second Trump administration actively promotes export expansion. This durability across administrations reflects the deep political, economic, and strategic foundations of USLNG exports.

With the news media sitting before us, let me drill deeper into the false narrative that European reliance on USLNG creates a new “dependency” comparable to Europe’s pre-2022 reliance on Russian pipeline gas. And let me be direct: these claims represent either fundamental misunderstanding of energy markets or deliberate disinformation likely originating from the gilded halls of the Kremlin and amplified through the karaoke equipment of the global anti-fossil fuel movement.

These claims collapse under scrutiny.

Europe has not traded one dependency for another. It has traded vulnerability to an adversarial petrostate for commercial relationships with a tried-and-true ally operating in competitive global markets. It exchanged pipeline lock-in for globally flexible LNG cargoes, opaque political leverage for transparent contractual obligations, and Kremlin caprice for the American rule of law.

The European Commission itself addressed these false claims just three weeks ago. The Commission’s spokesperson stated unequivocally: “When ‘dependency’ or ‘replacing one dependency with another’ is being discussed, EU imports from the United States—USLNG—cannot be compared to the pre-war dependency we had with Russia.”

She explained why: “Before the war started, Russia supplied around 45% of our gas. This was done via dedicated pipelines that were controlled by—belonged to—a single state-owned company that was subject to government control. Russia has frequently and repeatedly weaponized energy supplies over the past decade.”

In contrast: “Unlike pipelines, LNG is a global and liquid market. It offers more diversification options for the European Union. With LNG, per definition, the market is very liquid. The market is global and it’s very, very flexible. So this makes our reliance on LNG much more manageable compared to our reliance on pipeline imports.”

The spokeswoman was being diplomatic. Let me be blunter. America is not Russia.

Gazprom is a state-controlled monopoly answerable to the Kremlin. Putin could order supply cuts with no commercial consequences, shareholder lawsuits, contract liability, or domestic opposition.

USLNG companies are private entities with binding contracts, shareholders, and legal obligations. They export LNG to maximize profits, not advance presidential foreign policy. The President cannot order ExxonMobil, Cheniere Energy, or Venture Global to stop deliveries without congressional authorization, contract violations, enormous legal exposure, disastrous diplomatic consequences, and political backlash from red and blue states alike.

No, America is not Russia. Commercial contracts are not Kremlin edicts. NATO allies are not adversarial petrostates.

Moreover, the suggestion that mutually beneficial relationships between American LNG sellers and European gas buyers create risks comparable to Russian gas dependency insults the memory of Ukraine’s suffering over the past four years—suffering that continues to this very bitter winter day.

Russia weaponizes energy to freeze civilians and extract political concessions. American companies sell LNG to make money under binding contracts governed by law. We are proud that our energy provides heat, light, and hope for European families. Very, very proud.

These are not equivalent situations.

As an American married to a smart, talented, and beautiful Ukrainian from Crimea, I guess I have strong feelings about this, right, darling?

But let me step down from the soapbox for a moment and finish what I started at the beginning. Welcome, everyone. And to our European friends—ministers, ambassadors, and industry leaders—let me offer you an especially warm welcome on a snowy day. It is good to see you all again and we are honored with your presence.

Over the next few minutes, we will hear from leaders who have built this partnership. Ministers from Lithuania, Poland, and Greece who are securing their nations’ energy independence from the Russian monopolist. Ambassador Neliupšienė who champions transatlantic cooperation. Officials from the U.S. Department of Energy and the European Commission who make these relationships work. And industry leaders from across Europe who turned contracts into delivered energy.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, let me close where I began.

The European Union needs an energy security partner it can rely upon. Not just for the next heating season, but for the next generation. Not just when times are easy, but when they’re hard. A partner that operates under rule of law, honors commitments, and shares your values.

America is that partner. We are that democracy. You can continue to count on us.

Thank you for being here. Let’s celebrate a decade of partnership—and build the next one together.