Šefčovič, Pyatt say Greece can help boost EU energy security

Washington is eager to see US exporters succeed in marketing LNG from the United States

- Advertisement -

PIRAEUS, Greece – Greece’s position as an energy hub that can help the European Union increase its energy security and diversification of supplies, reducing reliance on Russia were highlighted by Commission Vice President for Energy Union Maroš Šefčovič and US Ambassador to Athens Geoffrey Pyatt.

At the Greek Energy Forum at Greece’s biggest port on November 10, the US Ambassador emphasised “the enduring and critically important partnership between the United States in working to advance our shared goals of European energy security”.

“Over the past few years, the United States has made it a priority to work with our European partners and with Greece in particular to develop secure supplies of energy in this region through diversification of energy sources,” Pyatt said.

“Just look where Greece sits, at the geographic nexus of so many of these energy security efforts. Just 30-minutes or so north of Alexandroupolis, the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) will connect to the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP), allowing gas from Azerbaijan to flow into the European market,” the US ambassador said at the packed library room of the beautiful Laskaridis Foundation building in Piraeus.

He hailed TAP as a “critical piece of the Southern Gas Corridor”. He also noted that Washington “is actively supporting another key link in our joint efforts to move new, non-Russian gas into European markets, that is the Greece-Bulgaria Interconnector (IGB)”.

He explained that the IGB pipeline will provide “a route for new sources of gas – whether from Azerbaijan, US LNG, or elsewhere – to enter a market that has long depended on a single supplier. The Greece-Bulgaria Interconnector will allow new gas to reach not only the countries along the TAP route – Greece, Albania, and Italy – but countries further north, bolstering energy security as far away as Ukraine”.

To maximise the utility of the IGB, a consortium is working with US support in Alexandroupolis to create a floating storage and regasification unit that would serve as a new entry point for LNG into Greece and the Balkans, Pyatt said.

“These projects, as well as the expansion of the Revithoussa LNG terminal here around Attica, are creating the infrastructure to bring new sources of natural gas into Europe, putting greater power in the hands of consumers and diluting the influence of suppliers who have used energy as a tool of political coercion,” he added.

“More importantly, the sources of supply should be balanced, so that European countries will no longer face the prospect of Russia ‘turning off the spigot’ for political purposes,” he said.

“I witnessed this dynamic unfold during my time as Ambassador in Ukraine. There Russia leveraged its position as a monopoly supplier of gas, and by using its ability to turn the tap on or off squeezed the government in Kiev to advance Moscow’s political goals,” the US Ambassador said.

Šefčovič recalled that Europe passed difficult moments “in 2006 and 2009 when suddenly the supplies of gas were interrupted and the crucial decision had to made how are we going to make it to the next week”.

“It’s quite clear that we don’t want and cannot happen again in Europe. For that, we have to make sure that we work together so that we have security of supply, we have diversified sources of external energy supplies and to make sure that we’re so interconnected and so diversified so that we cannot be put in such a difficult situation again,” the European Commission Vice President added.

Šefčovič noted that Greece’s geographical position allows it to become European energy hub.

Pyatt said Washington is eager to see US exporters succeed in marketing LNG from the United States. “But the real winner from these projects will be the consumer, as the European gas market begins to enjoy the benefits of true competition,” he said. “Of course, there is no expectation that US LNG or other sources of gas will entirely supplant Russian supplies. It’s clear that Russian gas will continue to supply a significant percentage of European gas demand. However, it should do so in a competitive market,” the US Ambassador said.

follow on twitter @energyinsider

 

- Advertisement -

Subscribe to our newsletter

Co-founder / Director of Energy & Climate Policy and Security at NE Global Media

Latest

A Code of Conduct for the HR Outsourcing sector

The quote - often attributed to Deng Xiaoping -...

T is for tariffs

If the quick freeze and attempted shut down of...

EU officially implements landmark AI law

The EU officially implemented its new landmark AI law...

Trump administration unleashes first sanctions on Iranian shadow fleet

On February 6, the Department of the Treasury unleashed...

Don't miss

A Code of Conduct for the HR Outsourcing sector

The quote - often attributed to Deng Xiaoping -...

T is for tariffs

If the quick freeze and attempted shut down of...

EU officially implements landmark AI law

The EU officially implemented its new landmark AI law...

Trump administration unleashes first sanctions on Iranian shadow fleet

On February 6, the Department of the Treasury unleashed...

Tariff Trouble in Trump Town

President Trump has had many a cartoon about him...

T is for tariffs

If the quick freeze and attempted shut down of American foreign assistance through USAID was not enough, on February 10 U.S. President Donald Trump...

Tariff Trouble in Trump Town

President Trump has had many a cartoon about him as a child throwing toys and anything to hand out of the playpen. Now, of...

Global reaction to Trump tariffs only reinforces his use of this tired and risky strategy

True to form, U.S. President Donald Trump disrupted global markets with a three-day surge of tariff announcements, border security negotiations and ultimately a 30-day...

Donald Trump is inaugurated amidst promises of security, stability and prosperity

After storming a frigid Washington D.C. during his extended inauguration festivities on January 20, Donald J Trump, America’s 47th and 45th President, launched a...

The heat is on Trump’s fossil fuel push, climate change pushback

2024 has officially been confirmed as the warmest year on record, with global temperatures surpassing the 1.5°C threshold mentioned in the Paris Agreement, Alberto...

The Biden administration’s parting gift to Russia: Still more sanctions

Clearly working overtime to underscore the Biden administration’s desire to inflict maximum economic pain on Moscow and its coterie of Ukraine invasion supporters outside...

Undeclared “open season” on energy infrastructure in Europe

Russia is claiming it has shot down nine Ukrainian drones that tried to attack the TurkStream pipeline, which carries Russian gas to Europe through...

Righteous indignation over Maduro’s inauguration unlikely to change Venezuela’s dark reality

President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela was sworn in on January 10 for his third six-year term. Promising that his third term would be one...