Geoffrey Pyatt is assistant secretary of State Department’s Bureau of Energy Resources. Speaking at a briefing attended by United States Bureau Chief OLUKOREDE YISHAU, Pratt points out America’s priorities on global energy needs. Excerpts:
The U.S. Government’s energy diplomacy
I’d like to start by framing my remarks in the context of some speech – a speech that I know many of you will have watched, which was Secretary Blinken’s remarks a couple of weeks ago, around the corner from us at Johns Hopkins SAIS, and his focus there on the U.S. effort to reinforce our alliances and partnerships that are really the – really critically important challenge that we face in achieving progress on some of the global issues that are so important to all of our allies and partners around the world, but especially in the developing world, several of which are the responsibility of my bureau at the State Department – for instance, energy, energy access, energy security, and then also, critically, all of the issues around the climate crisis and our efforts to build an energy economy that is cleaner and greener and more sustainable. We’re obviously investing in a big way here at home on these issues, but we’re also very, very focused on how we work with our allies in this regard. I’d like to put a spotlight on a couple of the priorities for my team in the ENR Bureau over the course of this fall. One, of course, has necessarily been Ukraine, as we continue our work to support the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine and help the Ukrainian people to address the damage that Vladimir Putin has inflicted on the country and on the country’s energy grid, including with more missile attacks in the east targeting infrastructure just this morning.
G7 coordination We continue a very strong focus on the G7+ coordination group that Secretary Blinken launched exactly a year ago, last November in Bucharest at the NATO ministerial, but really on an almost constant basis in engagements around the world. We’ve been very pleased over the past week to host here in Washington Energy Minister Halushchenko, and then just the day before yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenk. Had opportunity also to meet with some Ukrainian parliamentarians who were here ahead of the Halifax conference, and just the other day, also a remote meeting with the CEO of Naftogaz. But in all of those discussions, we’ve been focused on two agendas. One is the work we’re doing over the short term to help Ukraine build resilience in its energy system as they come into another winter where everybody is expecting a campaign of Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, but also to do all that we can work working with Congress to support Ukraine’s vision of building a future energy system which is fully integrated with Europe and aligned with European standards, decentralized, more resilient, much greener. So this is a critically important task. I was up at – honored to speak before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week on these issues, and would put a particular spotlight on the priority that we’re placing on the National Security supplemental and the Ukraine elements of that. And we’re very grateful for the support that we’ve enjoyed from Congress in that regard.
Europe as priority Europe also remains a priority. I’ve had the opportunity in recent weeks to be back in Europe twice, both to Madrid and then separately to Bucharest and to Rome. In Bucharest, I was part of the U.S. delegation for the Three Seas Summit. In Italy, I was talking a lot with the Italians ahead of their upcoming G7 presidency with a focus on their very strong interest in the work we’re doing together in Ukraine, in our shared efforts around European energy security, helping to further address the energy gap which has been created by Putin’s weaponization of his energy resources, and the impressive and critically important turn that Europe has made away from Russian energy supplies over the past several months. I think we’re confident Europe is coming into this winter in a much better position compared to where it was a year ago in terms of gas reserves, in terms of Europe’s security against further weaponization actions by Russia, but we’re – we are not complacent about any of this. I would also put a spotlight on our work with Japan. I was particularly pleased a couple of weeks ago to be out at Stanford at the Hoover Institution, which hosted us for the second U.S.-Japan Strategic Energy Dialogue. This was a really important venue that brought together a number of elements of the U.S. Government with counterparts – Director General Kihara from METI but also from the foreign ministry, and really, really importantly from our two private sectors. Japan plays a critically important role in the global energy picture, it’s a major energy buyer from the United States, but it is also a country with whom the U.S. is working very closely to accelerate energy transition, especially across the Asia-Pacific and in Southeast Asia. It’s also a country whose companies, whether through the partnership between GE and Hitachi or the work that Japanese firms are doing in areas like critical minerals and carbon management – a country whose companies are playing a critical role in the global energy transition. So I was really pleased by the quality of that discussion as well and in particular the high-level participation from both Japanese and American corporates who are part of this larger energy alliance between our two countries.
Energy alliance with UKWe’ve done a lot of work recently – and I will do more in travel to the UK right after Thanksgiving – in support of the Mineral Security Partnership. I would particularly put a spotlight on the initiative we have launched through the State Department’s Global Partnership Office with SAFE, an NGO here in Washington that works with the private sector globally to address issues around battery minerals in particular and all aspects of energy security, but with a particular focus on the issues around the energy transition.
Dialogue with Norway I want to also mention our recent energy dialogue with Norway, a country that has become Europe’s largest gas supplier, but also a country that is a significant critical mineral supplier to the United States, a country which shares the American vision of de-carbonization of our fossil energy sector, and a country which is an ally and a partner in working to address the disruption of global energy markets that Vladimir Putin has imposed on all of us. I want to put a particular flag also on the work that we are doing in the runup to COP, especially for my bureau, supporting what Secretary Kerry and the special envoy’s office is doing to address issues around the fossil energy sector, to address questions of methane abatement, carbon management, recognizing that we will be in Dubai for COP28. So a country which is a – like the United States, a large fossil energy producer, but also a country that has exercised leadership in devoting resources to the energy transition.
Ottawa talks And then the last recent activity that I would put a spotlight on: I had the opportunity last week to be up in Ottawa, was really pleased to be able to have conversations with the – with NRCan, the energy minister including Minster Wilkinson, but also with our partners at Global Canada. Canada is a really unique energy partner for the United States. We, of course, have the largest energy relationship in the world. Our companies are deeply intertwined with each other. But we are also working together on the energy transition. I was delighted when I was in Ottawa to spend a lot of time talking about critical minerals, an area where Canadian companies are not just producers, not just domestic processors, but also have a global footprint, and so share our concerns about the concentration of supply chains, in particular in the People’s Republic of China. But Canada is also moving forward jointly with the United States in areas like carbon management, carbon sequestration, and is a critical part of our overall alliance in support of Ukraine, and lastly, has been a partner in the area of developing civil nuclear power as part of our overall climate and energy strategy, and importantly, Canada and Ontario will host what is now likely to be North America’s first new small modular reactor, a critical part of our overall strategy for meeting our nuclear buildout and climate goals.
Ukraine and Russia We’re directly focused on how to build resilience through this winter. Vladimir Putin has sought to weaponize the winter and to use the winter as a tool to break the will of the Ukrainian people. I know he will fail. This is why we have the G7+ coordination group, to mobilize resources. The United States has already brought to bear more than $520 million in energy sector assistance to Ukraine. We know that we have another $500 million in the pipeline, and we are using these resources both to address short-term needs – so sourcing new transformers, new generator capacity to rebuild what Putin has destroyed – but also working very, very closely – and this was a huge part of my conversation with Deputy Prime Minister Svyrydenko and with Minister Halushchenko – to help support the Ukrainian Government’s own vision for building a future energy system which is green and resilient and fully integrated with Europe. And I will say, as somebody who has spent a lot of my career working in and around Ukraine, it is so deeply impressive to see the determination of the Ukrainian people to build back better and to ensure that the future energy system that Ukraine is investing in is fully aligned with Ukraine’s expectation to become a member of the European Union. And in that regard, I was also delighted, like all of us in the administration, to see the clear signals recently from EU President von der Leyen on Ukraine and Moldova’s EU accession processes, and we are going to be partners in that effort every step of the way. And I’m also quite heartened by the fact that the European Union is stepping up on these same issues. My principal deputy, Laura Lochman, was in Warsaw earlier this week for the ReBuild Ukraine conference – hosted by Poland but jointly with the energy ministry, and supported by American companies like GE. So everybody is trying to look to both getting through this winter but also, critically, what it looks like the day after – after Ukraine’s victory – and how we help Ukraine to build the kind of energy security that your citizens so richly deserve.
Modernization of Ukraine energy sector
So let me break that into three quick points. One is I think the American people are with Ukraine, and I say that based on my discussions with Congress, my discussions around the world. We have an important budget debate that has to unfold right now. The White House and the administration have been very clear on this, and I was really proud to be up before the Senate last week jointly with my counterpart Jim O’Brien from the European Bureau, but also, critically, my partner Erin McKee, who is the USAID assistant administrator for the region. What I heard from Republicans and Democrats in that engagement was continued commitment to Ukraine and an understanding of the national security stakes that we have in Ukraine’s success, and also an understanding that in the context of this war with Russia, energy is just as much part of the Russian arsenal as are the drones that Putin is raining down on Ukrainian cities. So we do need to move ahead in that area. We are also very encouraged by what we see from the European Union, and as I said before, the Senate. The volume of energy sector assistance from Europe has exceeded that that the United States has provided, so our European allies are carrying their load. Japan is another example. Japan has been a fantastic partner and a fantastic leader on these Ukraine issues, something that I discussed at that dialogue at Stanford that I talked about. And then finally, I would make the point that in the energy sector especially, the private sector and private companies are going to be playing an absolutely vital role. I was discussing that just today with the President’s special envoy for Ukrainian reconstruction, former Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker. My team is doing everything we can to support her in helping to lay the foundation for that private sector revival and that private sector interest. I mentioned GE’s presence at the ReBuild Ukraine conference just now. We’re very grateful for the role that GE Vernova has played as part of this larger effort. But there are many other U.S. energy companies that I talk to regularly on Ukraine, issues that are looking to support and are looking to be part of the construction of this new European energy system that I talked about.
