The EU and the US are reassuring of the difficult situation: There will be enough gas supplies – NEW TIME

The meeting document available to TASR states that both parties are aware of the rapidly changing energy environment and risks to energy security, including the cyber security of energy infrastructure, and are therefore working to increase energy security and promote energy diversification.

The meeting was chaired by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, EU Foreign Minister Josep Borrell and EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson. The Council of the EU was represented by the French Ambassador to the United States, Philippe Étienne.

The US-EU Energy Council is the main transatlantic coordination forum for strategic energy issues.

Participants of this meeting discussed in particular the urgent need to take measures to address the gas supply situation in Europe and to secure gas supplies to Ukraine. The US and the EU have emphasized their commitment to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, working together to ensure rapid decarbonisation and promoting investment in related technologies.

At the same time, the EU-US Energy Council has committed itself to strengthening energy security in the Union’s neighborhood, including Ukraine, Moldova and the Western Balkans, but also to promoting a rapid and equitable energy transition in Africa, emphasizing the need to address energy poverty.

The indicated cooperation in this area will focus on to prevent energy supply disruptions and to improve the diversification of energy suppliers and fuel types in line with the set zero emissions targets.

As geopolitical and climate impacts affect energy markets, the EU and the US want to work together to ensure that global liquefied natural gas markets have the capacity to provide additional and diversified supply in the event of a pipeline outage. Both sides have also highlighted the growing cyber threats to energy infrastructure and therefore want to work together in this area.

Washington and Brussels have reiterated that it is unacceptable to use energy supplies as a weapon or geopolitical leverage. That is why both sides are willing to increase the resilience and energy security of the eastern partners, such as Moldova and Ukraine. This is also through reverse gas flows so that these countries have sufficient energy supplies.

In the case of Ukraine, both the EU and the US confirmed that it was a key partner and clarified that energy security is vital for a sovereign Ukraine. Both sides said that Ukraine is a strategic gas transit country for the EU and will support Ukraine’s integration into the EU energy market, also with a view to accelerating decarbonisation and the transition to clean energy and increasing Ukraine’s potential for clean energy exports. It will also support the exploration of new gas transit routes from the EU to Ukraine.

Europeans and Americans also want to help decarbonise the Western Balkans, gradually reduce coal for energy production and inefficiently subsidize fossil fuels, and integrate their electricity markets with the neighboring Euroblock market. EU and US support in this area also includes Western Balkan energy market reforms and regulatory reforms.

Last but not least, both parties emphasized that onshore and offshore wind energy is a “key technology” for clean energy production. The third high-level forum between European and US companies within the EU-US Energy Council, to be held this year, will focus specifically on energy produced on offshore wind farms.