Pyatt looks forward to continuing partnership with Greece on energy

The United States is looking forward to the “continuation of the strong partnership with Greece” in energy cooperation, Geoffrey Pyatt, Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources and former ambassador to Greece, has said.

Speaking at the 7th SEF Energy Forum in Thessaloniki, Pyatt also said the completion of the floating gas and regasification unit (FSRU) in Alexandroupoli was extremely important, as well as the role played by Greece in accelerating the energy transition in the Western Balkans.

Regarding the latter, he pointed out the importance of completing projects such as the Greece-North Macedonia pipeline and continuing cooperation with Kosovo and Serbia for the development of cleaner and more sustainable energy systems, which will help those countries escape from Russian influence.

In addition, he reiterated the US’s commitment to the 3+1 Initiative of Greece, Cyprus, Israel and the US and the extremely important cooperation in the eastern Mediterranean.

Noting that the regional energy markets have not been seriously disrupted by developments in the Middle East, Pyatt said that Europe is in a much better prepared this winter for the fallout from the war in Ukraine and noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s failure to weaponize energy last winter was also due in part to the work done by US natural gas and LNG producers.

“About 70% of our production last year went to Europe. But an equally important role was played by countries such as Greece, which have invested in additional regasification capacity,” he emphasized, underlining the crucial role of the expansion of the Revythoussa terminal in this direction.

Regarding energy security in relation to the developments in Ukraine, Pyatt referred again to Greece’s leading role in the effort to mitigate their repercussions, with critical infrastructure and the role of the Southern Corridor. [AMNA]