Double-standard trouble

Throw a pack of dogs a bone and watch them fight each other for it. If this is not a saying it should be. Alternatively, it could go like this: Throw a pack of countries a load of LNG and watch them complain that it’s too expensive.

It was only a matter of time and, once again, I underestimated Europe in how quickly it turns tables. Last week, French president Emmanuel Macron accused Americans of charging Europeans more for LNG than they charge U.S. buyers of U.S. natural gas.

This created a double standard, he said, implying that double standards are a bad thing. But the Americans also gave hefty subsidies to many industries when such subsidies are banned in the EU, which is also, apparently, a double standard and still bad.

U.S. LNG exports to France boomed by 421% over the first eight months of the year. I cannot recall a single word of complaint about the price being uttered by Macron or anyone else in the French government during that period but this may be because I can’t follow French media.

Obviously, France was not the only one seriously boosting its imports of U.S. LNG and as demand rose, so did prices, starting from an already high point because of the crunch, which, I will not tire of reminding everyone, began long before February 24, 2022. By August, the French LNG bill had swollen by 1094%.