The United States wants Qatar, the world’s top liquefied natural gas supplier, to challenge Russia’s gas dominance in Europe, a U.S. administration official said on Monday.

Deputy U.S. Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette told Reuters that the United States is talking with Doha about supplying Europe with LNG as it wants Germany and other countries to import Qatari and U.S. gas rather than from Russia, which now accounts for 60 percent of German gas imports, according to Reuters.

The United States has warned German companies about possible sanctions over the Nord Stream 2 pipeline under construction which will double Russia’s export capacity to Germany via the Baltic Sea.

Germany is Europe’s biggest energy consumer.

Brouillette, speaking in Doha, said he had discussed the issue with Qatar’s Minister of State for Energy Affairs Saad al-Kaabi, who is also chief executive of Qatar Petroleum (QP).

“We are talking to Minister Kaabi here about other markets, specifically Europe, to the extent that we can talk to the Qataris about supplying European markets with natural gas,” he said in an interview.

“They are very much interested in that and so are we – it’s very connected to deliberations with others we have around Nord Stream 2.”

He said Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline would increase the dependency of Germany and Europe on Russian gas, but that Germany had recently decided to help fund LNG import facilities that could offset that dependence.