In an interview with the Financial Times on Monday, Ditte Juul Jorgensen, director general for energy in the European Commission, said that the EU will be purchasing liquified natural gas (LNG) from the United States for several decades, after the bloc elected to sharply reduce its purchases of Russian energy products.

In the interview he emphasized that the EU’s reliance on the American market for energy would not be going away any time soon.

Jorgensen said, “We will need some fossil molecules in the system over the coming couple of decades. And in that context, there will be a need for American energy.”

As it transitions away from Russian energy supplies, Brussels is attempted to increase the Union’s energy security, however at the same time, the bloc is trying to maintain its ambitious agenda to cut carbon emissions by over half by 2030, and then reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

According to analysts questioned by FT, it is expected that the projections by Jorgensen, will help to “clear the path forward” for EU buyers, who have been hesitant to sign contracts with US suppliers extending beyond 2030.

Fauzeya Rahman, an LNG analyst at consultancy ICIS said, “For US developers trying to line up deals, it’s a really positive signal for them.”

Shipments of LNG from the US to the EU increased by more than double last year, to 56 billion cubic meters (bcm) compared to 22 bcm in 2021. By late 2022, the supply of Russian natural gas had fallen to only 16% of the EU’s total gas imports.

Russian gas had previously accounted for roughly 45% of EU gas purchases, supplying about 40% of the entire consumption of the fuel. However following the February 2022 Russian military action in Ukraine, sales of Russian gas to the EU dropped off precipitously following the imposition of sanctions on Russia by the Western powers.