The in-laws decided to do a family reunion and hold it someplace grander than that church hall in Morrison Bluff, Ark., where they usually meet. The choice: a condo in Venice, Italy.

Fair enough, so we spent a week visiting, touring the city’s landmarks and keeping the pushy gondoliers employed.

By the way, a gondola ride is €80, the equivalent of about $108, for 30 minutes, and costs extra if you want him to sing. Asking for “Santa Lucia” brings a sneer. That’s a Neapolitan song, sort of like asking a Brooklyn crooner to do “Deep in the Heart of Texas.” Tips are customary—and they remind you of that.

I did the touristy stuff plus—energy type that I am—I watched Italy’s local distribution company, Italgas, lay new natural gas lines through the old city. During much of our stay, workers had the street in front of our condo torn up for a new gas main. (I use the term “street” loosely; it’s about as wide as the walkway between your office cubicles.) The line and assorted meters and valves all appeared state-of-the-art, hauled up from a work barge docked on a nearby canal.

Our condo had gas appliances, all connected to a shiny meter by the front door that looked out of place on a building that may have been there when Napoleon showed up in 1797.

Laying gas lines in a city on a hundred islands may seem difficult but consider the alternative. The guidebooks remind travelers that the fancy esplanade next to the famous Rialto Bridge once served as the city coal dock. It has pricey, upscale restaurants today.

Whence?

I was standing at the bathroom lavatory, brushing my teeth, when the tankless water heater on the wall kicked on with a familiar “kuh-WOMPH.” Blue flames flickered behind a little window and the thought hit me: Where did that gas I consume come from? Russia? Libya? Algeria? None of those names enjoy that dependable ring of Alberta, Texas or Pennsylvania.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration recently reported that Italy is a growing customer of Russian gas. In Western Europe, “Italy had the largest increase in natural gas pipeline imports from Russia in 2013, receiving 2.4 Bcf/d [billion cubic feet per day] of natural gas,” the agency said. “This reflected a 1 Bcf/d increase over 2012. Italy accounted for 16% of total Russian natural gas pipeline exports to Eastern and Western Europe in 2013, versus 11% in 2012.”

That softly whispering heater brought home Europe’s energy predicament. Having to brush your teeth with cold water if the Russians get moody is one thing. Struggling to keep a crying baby warm in a Kiev apartment on a snowbound winter day is quite another.

Creating an option

What would happen if Europe had an option to buy abundant, fairly priced LNG from North America? What would happen if Italy and its neighbors could tell its current suppliers, “No thanks”?

Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta gave the keynote address at Hart Energy’s recent DUG East conference in Pittsburgh and made a point that one of the best things the U.S. could do, from a foreign policy and defense perspective, is provide its allies in Europe with energy alternatives to unstable and demanding suppliers.

North America needs to keep Panetta’s advice in mind as we move ahead with development of an LNG export industry. The issue involves far more than a new market for abundant gas from the shale plays. It benefits us as well as crying babies in Kiev.

Paul Hart can be reached at pdhart@hartenergy.com or 713-260-6427.