Rumors say that upon hearing the news about Obama's order to supply Europe with American natural gas, energy traders joked that the President will have more chances to succeed with an executive order canceling the law of gravity. The facts don't jive with the promises made by the US President.

The only existing project for LNG export is Freeport LNG that awaits the final approval by mid-2014 in order to start building the facilities required. The first operational unit of Freeport LNG will be on-line in 2020 and that is the best-case scenario. Moreover, most of the gas that is supposed to be liquefied and exported through this facility has already been bought by consumers in Asia where prices are 30-50 percent higher than in Europe. There four other projects in very early stages of development. According to a CNBC report, approximately 80 percent of the LNG exports coming on-line in the next few years are committed to Asia, currently the largest market for U.S. natural gas producers. Of course, the next US President can try to coerce the owners of Freeport into redirecting their flows to Europe but someone will have to compensate the resulting losses and it is a safe bet that America's budget is too stretched to handle such a massive blow.  MORE