Hochstein: Floating LNG Terminals Cant Solve EU Gas Dependency

US Senior Advisor for Energy Security Amos Hochstein has told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that that the European Union is struggling to ease dependence on Russian energy imports due to fundamental infrastructure limitations.

• Hochstein says that there are short, medium, and long-term solutions to be implemented to ease dependency, but Russian gas imports are so high that a fundamental change in consumption must take place in order to limit demand.
• Hochstein says that more must be done in Romania to develop small modular reactors (SMRs) and the US must continue to support advanced nuclear in the Czech Republic, Romania, Poland. Hochstein says "this would be a step change in easing dependency" and could be a template for the region.
• Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) supported the expansion of US nuclear technology in Eastern and Central Europe and noted that it would be an opportunity for China to expand EU influence if the US withdrew support.
• In the medium term, Hochstein says that floating LNG terminals can be implemented within a year. Finland, Estonia, Germany are all looking in to expanding floating LNG capacity.
• According to Hochstein, permanent LNG terminals can take 3-4 years to build and aren't a viable solution to the current crisis.