American lawmakers are having serious second thoughts over President Joe Biden’s plans to freeze US LNG exports to countries such as Germany.On Thursday, the Congress voted stripping power to approve exports from the president’s Department of Energy (DOE) and hand it exclusively to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) as the sole body responsible for approving permits.The bill, sponsored by Texas Republican August Pfluger of Texas, passed 224-220 along party lines..The bill still needs to be carried by the Democratic-controlled Senate and in turn signed by Biden himself — which is highly unlikely.Biden last month slammed the brakes on exports to Europe and Asia, ostensibly to take a “hard look” at environmental impacts after the US became the world’s largest LNG exporter last year.But critics say it only serves to benefit competitors such as Iran and Russia — even Canada — who aren’t bound by the restrictions.Indeed, even Russian state mouthpiece Pravda hailed Biden’s move, for altogether different reasons.“Now it is not Russia, but the United States that wants to bring the Germans to their knees,” it gloated with glee. In an editorial it argued that Germany and the EU would eventually be forced to buy Russian gas or freeze in the dark.Germany accounts for the largest chunk of contracted supply from the massive CP2 LNG project on the Texas Gulf Coast due to the halt..On the bright side, any move to curtail American gas exports could be a boon to Canada as the first deliveries from the massive LNG Canada project on the West Coast later this year.“Also, Canadian LNG export projects that would not depend on US natural gas would appear to be big winners, particularly regarding prospective off takers in Asia, who would have easy access to Western Canadian gas from LNG export terminals along the British Columbia coast,” wrote David Brazil, president and CEO of Houston-based RBN Energy.In addition to the Shell-backed LNG Canada project, other examples include the proposed 400 million cubic feet per day (mmcf/d) Cedar LNG project on BC’s Douglas Channel (co-owned by Pembina Pipelines and the Haisla First Nation) and the 300 mmcf/d Woodfibre project in Squamish, a 70/30 partnership of Pacific Energy Corp. and Enbridge.But European officials raised alarm at Biden’s plans, even as they met with him last week to discuss energy security.European Commission executive VP Maros Sefcovic said after meeting with Biden officials that the US is now the "global guarantor of energy security" and its responsibility goes beyond Europe.
