U.S. LNG to cost Europe twice, thrice as much as Russian gas - Austrian president
VIENNA. June 5 (Interfax) - Replacing Russian natural gas supplies to Europe with liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States makes little economic sense, Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen said.
"There exists, let's put it this way, a reproach on the part of some U.S. partners that the European Union is overly dependent on Russia in that respect [gas supplies], but they omit that U.S. liquefied gas is two or three times costlier than Russian gas," Van der Bellen told a press conference after talks with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
"Under such circumstances, merely from the economic point of view, there is hardly any point in replacing Russian gas with American liquefied gas," the Austrian president said.
"Under such circumstances, the future cooperation between Gazprom [MOEX: GAZP] and OMV is based on a very strong foundation," van der Bellen said.