{"id":1918031,"date":"2023-04-22T05:56:01","date_gmt":"2023-04-22T09:56:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/us-not-capitalizing-on-status-as-worlds-only-energy-superpower-says-godfather-of-lng-charif-souki\/"},"modified":"2023-04-22T06:02:29","modified_gmt":"2023-04-22T10:02:29","slug":"us-not-capitalizing-on-status-as-worlds-only-energy-superpower-says-godfather-of-lng-charif-souki","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/us-not-capitalizing-on-status-as-worlds-only-energy-superpower-says-godfather-of-lng-charif-souki\/","title":{"rendered":"US Not Capitalizing on Status as World\u2019s Only \u2018Energy Superpower\u2019, Says \u2018Godfather of LNG\u2019 Charif Souki"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">32<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fus-not-capitalizing-on-status-as-worlds-only-energy-superpower-says-godfather-of-lng-charif-souki%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1918031&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div class=\"post_content\">\n<div class=\"aplayer_app\" data-source=\"https:\/\/vs1.youmaker.com\/assets\/2023\/0421\/63e40519-c876-4993-844d-88032f9ec839\/audio.mp3?length=8520237&#038;duration=710\"><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<p>Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine created a global energy crisis and an opportunity for the United States to assert itself as the world\u2019s \u201cenergy superpower,\u201d maintains Charif Souki, \u201cthe godfather of LNG\u201d who a decade ago spearheaded the American drive to become the global leader in liquified natural gas production.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe fundamental thing that has happened, that has not yet been absorbed in the United States, not by the political circles or by general consensus, is that we are now an energy superpower,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can argue, maybe, \u2018the\u2019 energy superpower.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Born in Egypt and raised in Lebanon, Souki is a former Wall Street banker, restaurateur, and CEO of Cheniere Energy, which is among the \u201cbig three\u201d LNG producers that capitalized on the \u201cfracking revolution\u201d that in a decade turned the United States, the world\u2019s largest importer of hydrocarbons, into its biggest exporter.<\/p>\n<p>Now CEO of Tellurian Investments, a natural gas company he co-founded in Houston, Texas, Souki said during an April 20 Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) webinar that energy debates in Congress are more about politics than actual policy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve seen the re-industrialization of America simply because our energy is cheaper than anywhere else,\u201d he told CSIS Energy Security &#038; Climate Change Program Director Joseph Majkut.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have not come to grips with that new reality. We\u2019ve spent 50 years [developing] energy policy to become self-sufficient. We became self-sufficient two years ago but we have not adapted to our new role.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4294310\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2022\/02\/22\/Nord-Stream-2-5-1200x800.jpg\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> A sign reading \u201cNord Stream 2 Committed. Reliable. Safe,\u201d hangs above a painted map of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline from Russia to Germany at a station in the Lubmin, Germany, in 2021. (Stefan Sauer\/DPA via AP)<\/figure>\n<h2>Price Matters<\/h2>\n<p>Consumers, be it a community, company, or country, don\u2019t make energy decisions based on policy but on price, Souki said, and that \u201cfundamental\u201d won\u2019t change regardless of whether energy is provided by oil, gas, solar, wind, nuclear, hydrogen, or any of the emerging renewable energies being developed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe role of the policymakers is to make policy that supports the fundamentals,\u201d he said. Policy decisions \u201ccan affect the way people are going to make these investments. Right now, we are watching America re-industrialize for a number of reasons that put us in a very comfortable position where we don\u2019t have to think too hard.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Biden administration is spearheading a $2 trillion transition to green renewable energies to make U.S. electrical generation 100 percent carbon-free by 2035.<\/p>\n<p>That effort is paced by two bills, 2021\u2019s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and 2022\u2019s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which are larded with grants and tax credits to incentivize investments in renewables that House Republicans say are geared to diminish if not end oil and gas development.<\/p>\n<p>Souki said government policy can guide long-term investments that eventually produce viable, cost-effective energy, but there\u2019s little long-term thinking in politics.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat is our real energy policy in the United States today? It is who is going to win the election in two years,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4220065\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2022\/01\/18\/EUROPE-ECONOMY-ENERGY-1200x790.jpg\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> A gas meter is pictured in the cellar of a home in Bad Honnef, near Bonn, Germany, on Jan. 4, 2022. (Wolfgang Rattay\/Reuters)<\/figure>\n<h2>No \u2018Transition\u2019 to Green Energy<\/h2>\n<p>The \u201ccentral issue\u201d in the disconnect between policy debates in Congress and reality is that \u201cthere is no \u2018transition\u2019 at the moment\u2014using the word \u2018transition\u2019 basically confuses the issue,\u201d Souki said.<\/p>\n<p>The goal of U.S. policymakers should not be selecting between renewables or hydrocarbons but simply to keep energy costs down by investing and incentivizing \u201ceverything\u201d that can generate energy, he said, including with BIL and IRA programs.<\/p>\n<p>But, no matter what, \u201cprice matters\u201d and that means affordable oil and gas will be key in developing renewable energies, Souki said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you really want to electrify the country, which the IRA is supposed to help to do, what is the source of energy to do that? Natural gas,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are not increasing domestic gas demand but it is not going to go down either because it is cheap. [Consumers] are going to go to whatever is cheap. I can make sealant in the United States much cheaper than I can in Turkey, so why am I going to make sealant in Turkey? Price matters.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Global energy demand is expected to increase by 50 percent by 2050. Unless investments in \u201ceverything\u201d dramatically scale up renewable energy capacities, demand for oil and gas will actually increase rather than decline, Souki said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is a demand for energy from people around the world that is not going to be satisfied,\u201d he said, noting hydrocarbons are the foundation for 90 percent of the world\u2019s fertilizers, which help produce enough food to feed 8 billion people, at least 5 million more than what the Earth\u2019s carrying capacity actually is.<\/p>\n<p>Congress should be incentivizing the nation\u2019s oil and gas producers to scale up for this rapidly approaching reality because doing so will keep energy inexpensive domestically as well, he said.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1580838\" style=\"width: 750px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Coal_103526651.jpg\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> The coal-fired power plant at Jaenschwalde, Germany, is one of the biggest single producers of CO2 gas in Europe but its production has been scaled up following Russia\u2019s February 2022 invasion of Europe. (Sean Gallup\/Getty Images)<\/figure>\n<h2>More Export Capacity Equals Lower Domestic Costs<\/h2>\n<p>Policy should be geared toward \u201cconservation first\u201d and \u201cwhatever it takes to manage carbon emissions,\u201d Souki said. \u201cConservation is easy. It is doable immediately if you have the political will to do so. The rest is difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There doesn\u2019t need to be policy debate about how much oil and gas American producers should be \u201cpermitted\u201d to export, he said, because there are already two limitations that make any such discussion moot.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is a limitation\u2014the price,\u201d Souki said, maintaining that three U.S. natural gas formations\u2014Marcellus, Hainesville, and Permian Basin\u2014\u201ccould accommodate a lot of growth\u201d in meeting global demand.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe real limitation is infrastructure. You cannot build enough infrastructure fast enough,\u201d he said. \u201cIt takes seven years to permit and build a facility. At the moment, everything that is built is being sold. There is no spare capacity in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That taxed export capacity in the United States is among the factors affecting the price of energy around the world, Souki said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe fundamental at the moment is that for a decade, investment in energy was terrible after we created an energy revolution in the United States because of fracking,\u201d he said. \u201cIt had the impact of keeping energy prices flat\u201d which discouraged investment.<\/p>\n<p>Energy companies went from 15 percent of the SNP 500 to 3 percent \u201cand they have not come back yet\u201d in terms of interest from institutional investors, Souki said.<\/p>\n<p>The scenario unfolded because of the market, not from government policy, he said, but government policies are making it unlikely that American producers can meet European demand in the wake of its \u201cenergy divorce\u201d from Russia following its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4433334\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2022\/04\/1.download-138-1200x760.jpg\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> A gas tank at a chemical plant in Oberhausen, Germany, on April 6, 2022. (Martin Meissner\/AP Photo)<\/figure>\n<h2>Europe \u2018Still In Trouble\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cEurope is now like the proverbial frog that is sitting in nice warm water thinking everything is fine, except there is a fire under it, and when the water starts boiling, the frog doesn\u2019t realize it is boiling,\u201d Souki said. \u201cNow, if the frog jumped into the water when it was boiling, it would jump right back out. But if not, it sits there doing nothing. That is what Europe is doing now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s because Europe was \u201cblessed with a warm winter\u201d and utilities are looking at ample storage capacities that proved critical last winter. But that was before the supply of Russian oil was severed last fall, he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow all of a sudden they are looking at their numbers compared to last year and saying, \u2018OK, we\u2019re in a comfortable position,\u2019\u2019 Souki said. \u201cNo, you\u2019re not. This summer you are not going to have Russian natural gas. Last summer, you did. So, you are going to<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine created a global energy crisis and an opportunity for the United States to assert itself as the world\u2019s \u201cenergy superpower,\u201d maintains Charif Souki, \u201cthe godfather of LNG\u201d who a decade ago spearheaded the American drive to become the global leader in liquified natural gas production. \u201cThe fundamental thing that has happened<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":509,"featured_media":1918032,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[543],"tags":[24896,24899,4486,15244,24898,24897,5026,18504,6158],"class_list":["post-1918031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-epoch-times","tag-capitalizing","tag-charif","tag-energy","tag-godfather","tag-lng","tag-souki","tag-status","tag-superpower","tag-worlds"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1918031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/509"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1918031"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1918031\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1918032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1918031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1918031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1918031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}