Energy secretary: Russian gas sales to China will not harm US

Energy Secretary Chris Wright stated on Friday that the U.S. fuel exporters would not be affected by any Russian gas sales to China.

Russia and China approved a new gas pipeline, Power of Siberia 2 this week. This shows that Chinese President Xi Jinping has no regard for Western demands to back off from a deeper partnership with Moscow.

Wright praised the Trump administration’s focus on expanding rapidly the liquefied gas exports during an event held at the Council on Foreign Relations on Saturday.

He said, "I believe that in this administration it will become the largest export for our country because exports are expected to double during this Administration." "This is one way to wean European allies from Russian gas."

Wright told reporters that Russia had lost a much larger share of the market for gas exports to traditional European customers than it has gained in China.

Wright stated that he was not concerned about China's interest for Russian gas. We are more concerned about the fact that President Donald Trump has made it his top priority to end the violence in Ukraine. The pressure to reduce Russian revenues from energy sales is the real issue.

In response to India's purchase of Russian oil, Trump has increased tariffs by 25% on goods entering the U.S.

Trump hasn't imposed any direct sanctions against Russian energy companies since he returned to office.

(source: Reuters)