“The bottom line is this is not going to impact any relationship that we have with allies or their ability to access energy,” Granholm said at an event at the National Press Club.
She would not offer a timeline on the pause, which President Joe Biden announced in January, other than it would be “months long”.
On Friday, Amos Hochstein, a senior Biden adviser, told al Arabiya English the pause could last about 10 to 14 months. That could mean the freeze will last beyond the Nov. 5 election.
Granholm said the pause, which will look at the environmental, economic, and climate impacts of the booming business, will affect 12 projects but not any existing LNG export approvals.
The U.S. last year took the reins as the world’s largest LNG exporter and its capacity to export the fuel is expected to double by 2030 with projects in construction that have full approvals.
Separately, Granholm said the U.S. is gradually replenishing the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, with purchases of millions of barrels a month following a record sell-off from the emergency stash after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. But Granholm said the U.S. is being careful not to do anything to affect global supply with the repurchases.
“We want to make sure that … we’re not doing anything that will take away supply from the market at a time when prices might be high, although I will note that prices have dropped significantly, since the invasion of Ukraine,” Granholm said.
Reporting by Timothy Gardner and David Shepardson; Editing by David Gregorio – Reuters