http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/feb/16/europe-places-be...

Interesting article.  Only a passing comment on US shale gas, and there will be a long delay in increasing demand for LNG, but encouraging news.

The future of Europe’s energy supply is to rely heavily on natural gas for the coming two decades and beyond, according to a new strategy set out on Tuesday by the European commission.

The plans were immediately attacked by green campaigners, who contrasted the continued role of fossil fuels with commitments to cut carbon dioxide made by the EU at the Paris climate summit two months ago.

Gas will have to be imported, from sources including Russia, Norway, Qatar and other Gulf states, under plans set out in the commission’s “Sustainable EnergySecurity Package”.

This will require tens of billions of euros of investment in infrastructure, including new cross-border pipelines, and the development of terminals for the import of liquefied natural gas (LNG). Most LNG currently comes from the Gulf but which in future could also be supplied from the shale fields of the US.

Miguel Arias Cañete, EU climate change commissioner, acknowledged the problems with gas supply that have haunted Europe in the recent past, such as Russia turning off supplies to the Ukraine for political ends. But he said that the renewed focus on diversifying supply and on constructing storage facilities would improve energy security.

“After the gas crises of 2006 and 2009 that left many millions out in the cold, we said never again. But we are still far too vulnerable to major disruption of gas supplies, and the political tensions on our borders are a sharp reminder that this problem will not just go away,” he said. “Today’s proposals are about a reliable, competitive and flexible system in which energy flows across borders and consumers reap the benefits. They are about standing together to protect the most vulnerable. They are about securing our clean energy future.”