19/12/2012 (Agence Europe) -Commission welcomes American LNG for NATO bill. On 19 December, the spokesperson to Commissioner Günther Oettinger, Marlene Holzner, welcomed the bill introduced to the American Congress on 12 December by Senator Richard Lugar, to give the United States' NATO allies fast and easy access to American liquefied natural gas. “The perspective of LNG gas from the US entering the European single market (…) would very well fit in our strategy of supply diversification, as LNG would be an option. Given that we have an integrated energy market, we would be happy if this initiative was extended to the EU as a whole. In this way, all EU member states could in principle benefit from this initiative, not only those which are NATO members”, Holzner explained. Currently, supplies of LNG represent 20% of the total volume of the EU's gas imports and are supplied by Qatar, Yemen, Norway, Algeria, Nigeria and Egypt, but not the United States. (EH/transl.fl)