COOS BAY — The Jordan Cove Energy Project has become one piece of the United States’ political strategy to punish Russia for annexing Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, political analysts say.

On Monday, the U.S. Department of Energy conditionally authorized Jordan Cove to export up to 800 million standard cubic feet of liquefied natural gas per day for 20 years to non-Free Trade Agreement countries.

In the last week, President Barack Obama has been pushed from both parties to fast-track approval of LNG export facilities — particularly those on DOE’s non-FTA list — to weaken Russia’s stronghold on eastern Europe and Ukraine’s natural gas market.

But no matter how fast these facilities receive approval, most will still take years to build and become operational. Jordan Cove is slated to start construction the beginning of next year (should it get all of its permits), but it wouldn’t be up and running until 2019. And its parent, Canadian energy company Veresen Inc., still has to make its final decision whether to build the $7.7 billion facility.

House Speaker John Boehner asked Obama to “do everything possible to use American energy to reduce the dependency on Russia for our friends in Europe and around the globe,” according to AP reports.

On Monday afternoon, Obama and Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Canada and Japan’s leaders kicked Russia out of the Group of 8, cancelling the G8 annual summit in June in Sochi. Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said Russia President Vladimir Putin has violated international law, though he doesn’t expect the G8 will disband for good.

“The door is open to Russia to de-escalate the situation,” Rhodes said.

Now that Jordan Cove got the DOE’s green light, 24 other LNG export facilities are on deck for approval.

But this “hurry up and wait” scenario will have minimal impact on the Russian and European market today, political analysts say.

“To leverage natural gas for geopolitical impact, Washington would need to compel energy firms to direct exports to or invest in specific countries,” according to a March 7 analysis by geopolitical intelligence firm Stratfor. “LNG export terminals are expensive, so attracting investment in them requires a promise of high returns. Natural gas companies can thus be expected to resist diverting LNG away from the most profitable destinations. For example, the Asian market for LNG is more lucrative for exports than Eastern Europe, where Russia can undercut U.S. prices. Already much of the industry’s export capacity has been sold in long-term contracts to Asian buyers.”

That’s the case for Jordan Cove, which has no plans to export LNG to Europe.

In October, Veresen finalized 25-year non-binding Heads of Agreement with three prospective customers in Indonesia, India and an eastern Asian country. Indonesia and India are non-FTA countries.

And in a commercial update issued in the hours following DOE’s Monday announcement, Veresen said in addition to the HOAs finalized last fall, “project level subsidiaries have further entered into a number of other HOAs with large-scale, prospective customers, including various emerging and traditional LNG buyers located throughout the Asia Pacific region.”

“Receipt of DOE approval to export to U.S. non-FTA countries completes a key development milestone for Jordan Cove and brings us one step closer to making a final investment decision,” said Jordan Cove president Elliot Trepper in a statement Monday.

On Feb. 20, Canada’s National Energy Board approved Veresen for a 25-year long-term natural gas export license to Jordan Cove. The license allows for the export of up to 1.55 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day for 25 years to Jordan Cove.

Jordan Cove received DOE authorization to import that natural gas on Thursday, matching the terms of the Canada NEB license.

Critics say the rush to approve LNG exports to non-FTA countries could have catastrophic impacts at home, sending domestic energy prices through the roof.

Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., issued a statement Monday urging the DOE to take a “time out” in issuing authorization to LNG export facilities. More studies are needed to see how mass LNG exports could impact the U.S. economy, he said.

“The level of exports approved is now more than every single American home consumes, and it could impose up to a $62 billion de facto tax on American households and businesses,” Markey said in a statement. “This is the moment to take a time out and do the studies, have the debate, and discuss the policies needed to protect consumers, enhance our national security and grow our economy, not rush to export more of America’s resources abroad.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Reporter Chelsea Davis can be reached at 541-269-1222, ext. 239, or by email at chelsea.davis@theworldlink.com. Follow her on Twitter: @ChelseaLeeDavis.