(The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a

columnist for Reuters.)

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US presses Europe to cut Russian energy purchases

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Interior secretary says US can replace Russian gas volumes

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But that would increase US share of EU's LNG imports to

over 70%

By Ron Bousso

MILAN, Sept 11 (Reuters) - It may appear quite audacious

for the world's largest natural gas producer to demand that its

biggest market stop buying from a competitor. But that's exactly

what unfolded this week at the global gas industry's annual

gathering in Milan.

Speaking at the start of the Gastech conference, U.S.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum delivered a clear message: Europe

should stop purchasing gas from Russia, which the United States

would happily replace.

American energy dominance, a key pillar of President Donald

Trump's agenda for his second term, aims to bring both peace and

prosperity to the world, Burgum told the audience of European

energy officials and company executives.

"We achieve prosperity at home and with our allies through

energy abundance... Peace is achieved around the world by

selling our energy to our friends and allies who don't have to

buy from our adversaries," said Burgum, a former governor of the

oil and gas-rich state of North Dakota

The comments come as Washington is ratcheting up pressure on

Europe to cut off its remaining purchases of Russian oil and gas

to squeeze the Kremlin's war economy and put pressure on

President Vladimir Putin to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine.

'ENERGY DOMINANCE'

Europe sharply reduced its Russian pipeline gas imports

following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and it aims to

fully phase out purchases of Russian gas by 2027, if not

earlier.

Yet the region has continued to import some Russian gas

through the Turkstream pipeline into Bulgaria.

And, importantly, Europe has arguably just traded one

dependency for another. The region's Russian pipeline volumes

have mostly been replaced by LNG imports - and the majority of

those have come from the United States.

In the first half of 2025, Europe's LNG imports rose by 25%

from the previous year, reaching an all-time high of 92 billion

cubic metres (bcm). The United States accounted for over 55% of

those imports, followed by Russia at 14%.

Given this new reality, Europe has little choice but to go

along with the Trump administration's energy agenda.

The European Commission Director General for Energy Ditte

Juul Jorgensen told the conference that the bloc will continue

to strengthen its energy partnership with the United States.

"The U.S. policy of energy dominance is complementary to our

strategy of replacing Russian energy in our system," she said.

These words have already been translated into action.

On Monday, Italy and the United States vowed to deepen energy

ties, including through increased LNG purchases. And then on

Wednesday, Italy's energy company Edison signed a deal

with Shell to buy around 0.7 million tonnes per year of

U.S. LNG starting in 2028, which could continue for up to 15

years.

Of course, some among EU members - most notably Hungary and

Slovakia - are pushing back against this U.S. pivot. These two

countries still rely heavily on Russian oil and gas and thus

both opposed the import ban earlier this year.

Sitting alongside Burgum at the conference,

Hungary's Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said the central

European country "cannot walk away from Russian gas" because of

geographical and infrastructure constraints.

Still, actions speak louder than words. The Hungarian natural

gas wholesaler MVM CEEnergy signed a 10-year deal with Shell on

Tuesday that will see the latter supply 200 million cubic metres

(mcm) of natural gas a year, beginning in January 2026. The aim

here is clearly to reduce the country's reliance on Russia.

Overall then, Europe appears to be doing precisely what

Burgum is asking for.

EXTREME DEPENDENCE

As a result, Europe's energy dependence is likely to soon be

the most extreme ever.

Replacing Russia's LNG volumes with U.S. volumes would

increase America's share of EU LNG imports to around 70%. If the

additional 16 bcm of gas imports via the Turkstream pipeline are

also replaced, that could boost the portion to over 80%. That

would equate to around 23% of total gas imports, when including

pipeline imports from Norway, Azerbaijan and North Africa,

according to Reuters calculations.

For comparison, Russia accounted for around 40% of Europe's

total gas imports before 2022.

While reliance on U.S. energy carries less political risk,

such extreme dependence nevertheless exposes Europe to

potentially severe disruptions such as a sudden drop in exports

from the U.S. Gulf Coast due to hurricanes or heatwaves. And the

chaotic policymaking out of Washington since January shows that

political risk can exist among allies.

Burgum said that the U.S. energy dominance policy is fully

aligned with Europe's ambition to end its dependence on Russia.

For now, that seems to be correct.

But who knows how long these allies' energy and security

goals will remain in synch. The EU better hope it is a long

time, as the bloc's outsized energy dependence will leave it

with little room to manoeuvre.

Enjoying this column? Check out Reuters Open Interest (ROI),your

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(Ron Bousso

Editing by Marguerita Choy)