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.
https://www.neweurope.eu/article/sefcovic-pyatt-say-greece-can-help-boost-eu-energy-security/