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White House backs U.S. natural-gas exports. "The White House made its strongest statement yet Wednesday that it views U.S. natural-gas exports as one tool to curb Europe's reliance on Russian energy and diversify supplies. From the joint U.S.-European Union statement issued alongside the U.S.-E.U. summit in Brussels: 'The situation in Ukraine proves the need to reinforce energy security in Europe, and we are considering new collaborative efforts to achieve this goal. We welcome the prospect of U.S. LNG exports in the future since additional global supplies will benefit Europe and other strategic partners.' Other tools include reversing natural-gas flows to allow other E.U. nations to ship gas into Ukraine and more collaboration on efficiency, renewables, and other sources. Check out the whole thing here. President Obama, in remarks in Brussels, more broadly said that energy is a 'central focus' of the response to Russia's annexation of Crimea."Ben Geman in National Journal.
Primary source: The joint U.S.-European Union statement.
Obama to EU: Cut your reliance on Russian natural gas. "President Barack Obama told the European Union on Wednesday it cannot rely on the United States alone to reduce its dependency on Russian energy, as relations with Moscow chill over its seizure of Crimea from Ukraine....During a 65-minute lunch, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso pressed Obama to step up U.S. gas exports, but he responded bluntly in telling the Europeans they needed to take politically difficult steps to develop their own resources. EU ambassador to Washington Jose Vale de Almeida quoted Obama as telling them: 'You cannot just rely on other people's energy, even if it has some costs, some downside,' in a clear reference to opposition in parts of the EU on environmental grounds to nuclear power and the extraction of shale gas. The issue will also be discussed next week at a special meeting of EU and U.S. energy ministers, officials said." Robin Emmott and Jan Strupczewski in Reuters.
Quotable: "I have no illusions or worry about the long-term future of Russia. Russia is now a gas station masquerading as a country." -- Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). Burgess Everett in Politico.
Zooming out: Obama, in Brussels speech, prods Europe to stand up to Russia, bolster NATO. "President Obama attempted Wednesday to rouse Europe to confront Russia's military seizure of Crimea, framing the West's dispute with Russian President Vladimir Putin as a clash of ideologies lingering from the Cold War....Obama made a broad case for U.S. and European unity, for sanctions against Russia that could damage still-fragile European economies and for help leveraging American power that he made clear in this case does not include military force....Obama stressed that Moscow's moves endanger not only that country but the international system that Europe and the United States have built over the years, a system that has been vital to the progress of democracy and international law worldwide." Scott Wilson in The Washington Post.
Primary source: Video and the full transcript of President Obama's speech. The Washington Post.
Meanwhile, it also looks like a White House spokesman's short-selling advice isn't holding up so well. "Since Carney said March 18 that the only investments worth making in Russian equities are wagers the market will decline, short sellers have been pulling out as the Micex gauge rebounded 1 percent....Equities are bouncing back in Moscow after President Vladimir Putin's push to annex Ukraine's Crimea peninsula sparked the worst standoff with the U.S. since the end of the Cold War and sent the Micex into a bear market. The gauge is up 9.1 percent from a four-year low reached March 14 as traders bet the sanctions imposed by President Barack Obama and his European counterparts don't go far enough to curb growth in the world's biggest energy-exporting nation."Halia Pavliva and Ksenia Galouchko in Bloomberg.
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