Pyatt criticizes energy arm-twisting
The United States has sent a clear message of support for international interconnection projects for the transmission of natural gas from sources outside Russia – which Greece is also involved in – through Ambassador Geoffrey R. Pyatt.
Addressing the 1st Oil and Gas Forum in Alexandroupoli in northern Greece on Thursday, Pyatt confirmed his country’s support for projects that strengthen the security of supply of the Balkans’ energy market and voiced strong criticism against Russian energy policy.
Pyatt noted that the energy projects in northern Greece – such as the Trans Adriatic Pipeline, the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB), the planned Alexandroupoli gas terminal and the expansion of the Revythousa gas terminal – “are creating the infrastructure to bring new sources of natural gas into Europe… and diluting the influence of suppliers that have for too long used energy as a tool of political coercion.”
In the presence of the energy ministers of Greece, Bulgaria and Serbia, who also addressed the forum, Pyatt noted that as President Donald Trump made it clear earlier this year in Poland, “the United States will never use energy to coerce your nations, and we cannot allow others to do so.” He also implicitly criticized delays to the implementation of the IGB pipeline.
