Officials from Washington and Moscow held discussions on the U.S. contribution to reviving Russian natural gas sales to Europe, eight sources familiar with the content of the talks told Reuters.

Sources close to the bilateral talks said that carving out a renewed role for Moscow in the European Union’s gas market could help cement a peace deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Although much of Europe has sought alternative supplies, some buyers have remained, and industry officials say more could return once a peace deal is in place.

As for Russia, nothing has hurt its economy more than the loss of most of the European gas market three years ago.

Today Russia supplies 19% of Europe’s demand, up from 40%, consisting mostly of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and some of it piped through Turkey via the TurkStream pipeline.

Washington’s involvement in restoring gas sales could help Moscow overcome political opposition in much of Europe.

U.S. involvement would also benefit Washington by offering it the ability to see and possibly control to some extent the volumes of Russian gas that return to Europe, two diplomatic sources and a White House source said.

From 2022, Europe has turned to other gas suppliers, including U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

U.S. envoy Steve Whitcoff and Putin’s investment envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, have discussed gas as part of the Ukraine peace talks, two of the eight sources said.

Whitkov’s spokesman declined to comment when asked if they had discussed the issue of Russian gas exports to Europe. “At present, there are no such discussions,” Russia’s Direct Investment Fund, which Dmitriev heads, said in a statement to Reuters.

As for how the Americans could get involved, five sources said that in talks so far there has been talk of U.S. investors taking stakes in the Nord Stream pipeline linking Russia to Germany, or in the pipeline crossing Ukraine, or in Gazprom itself.

U.S. companies could also serve as buyers, purchasing gas from Gazprom and sending it to Europe, including Germany, the sources said.

Two of the sources said diplomatic talks involving potential U.S. investors also considered the idea of a U.S. buyer taking Russian gas and then exporting it to Europe as a way to mitigate European political opposition to resuming supplies.

BlackRock, Vanguard and Capital Group each own 1-2% of Gazprom. BlackRock, Vanguard and Gazprom did not respond to requests for comment. Capital Group declined to comment.

The European Commission declined to comment. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has expressed opposition to a return to Russian energy supplies.

“Some people still say we need to turn on the tap of Russian gas and oil again. This would be a mistake of historic proportions and we will never let it happen,” she told a European Parliament meeting on May 7.

“Russia has proven, time and again, that it is not a reliable supplier.”

Brussels wants to ban new Russian gas deals by the end of 2025 and ban imports under existing deals by the end of 2027. The plan, which will be debated next month, will require the approval of the European Parliament and a majority of member states. Hungary and Slovakia have expressed their opposition to the move.

Trump has said he hopes for a peace deal on Ukraine soon and expects this will pave the way for both Russia and Ukraine to do major business with the U.S.

Russia is ready to restart gas exports to Europe immediately if there is political will to do so, Putin said. Kiev and Washington signed a U.S.-Ukraine mineral deal on April 30 that would include all natural resource assets and infrastructure owned by the Ukrainian government, but did not explicitly mention the pipeline.

“If this level of engagement between Russia and the US continues, it is very likely that there will be a resumption of Russian gas flows… involving US intermediaries,” a person familiar with the discussions said. Gazprom, keen to revive its European sales, is considering offering German customers short-term 24-month contracts and big discounts on prices, two sources said.

It has traditionally asked buyers to sign decades-old contracts, the two sources noted. However, the EU remains broadly opposed and there are other hurdles to overcome. There are numerous legal cases pending regarding violations of old contracts.

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