PARIS — U.S. President Joe Biden’s decision to pause approvals for new liquefied natural gas projects will not affect deliveries to Europe, a top U.S. energy official told POLITICO.
“It doesn’t impact any of the LNG currently being exported,” Deputy Energy Secretary David Turk said in an interview after a high-level meeting with French officials in the Paris business district of La Défense.
“It also doesn’t impact any of the current construction going on to export even more LNG,” Turk added, speaking from the 27th floor of a skyscraper where the French government keeps several offices.
The reassurance to anxious European officials comes several months after Biden halted the sign-off of pending or future LNG exports from new gas projects — a surprise move meant to ease concerns from climate-conscious voters ahead of a knife-edge election in November.
