By Nuran Erkul Kaya
ISTANBUL (AA) - Türkiye and the US can focus more on small modular reactors in nuclear energy and transitioning from fossil fuels to low-carbon energy sources in their longer-term dialogue, a senior American official said on Thursday.
Besides the immediate challenges of the energy crisis, gas supplies, and Russia's war on Ukraine, the two countries are also committed to “the longer-term issue of transition,” said Geoffrey Pyatt, assistant secretary of state for energy resources, on a three-nation tour to Bulgaria, Romania, and Türkiye.
After meeting with Alparslan Bayraktar, the Turkish deputy minister of energy and natural resources, as well as other officials and energy sector leaders, Pyatt told Anadolu Agency that he had “a very rich round of discussions” in Türkiye, where he was visiting as part of a three-nation tour on Oct. 10-14 that also included Bulgaria and Romania.
“I found a very high degree of agreement with my Turkish counterparts on this visit regarding the importance of stability in the market, importance of our dialogue that we have established between Washington and Ankara on all of the issues around the geopolitics of global energy and energy transition,” the US official said in the exclusive interview on the sidelines of the Atlantic Council's Regional Clean Energy Outlook Conference in Istanbul.
The Turkish government has the understanding that the name of the game is more wind, solar, hydro, and small modular nuclear reactors, he noted, explaining that nuclear power has a critical role in the US, while recent legislation had paved the way to extend the operation of domestic reactors.
Washington supports ongoing discussions in Europe on how to bring new projects to scale and to market as quickly as possible, Pyatt underlined. He also said that small modular nuclear reactors would be part of the solution to the world’s current energy-related conundrums.
"It is a challenge that we are committed to work together on between the US and Türkiye, issues like the regulatory environment for these reactors, in order to ensure and to assure communities that these projects can be rolled out safely. But it also has to make commercial sense," he said, pointing out that there was a clear revival of interest in nuclear power in many parts of the world.
Nuclear accounts for about 20% of the US’ total energy mix as a clean and sustainable power source, Pyatt added.
- US companies could invest in LNG infrastructure in Europe
On the current natural gas crisis and its impacts, Pyatt said the current situation was "caused uniquely by (Russian President) Vladimir Putin and the Russian government" which he accused of weaponizing its energy resources.
"That disruption (in gas supplies) is being felt around the world, literally, in every corner of the globe in terms of inflation, commodity prices. Europe is particularly vulnerable because of how Europe over time had evolved its industrial structures to be linked, in particular to Russian gas supplies," Pyatt said.
He pointed out that Europe acknowledges that Russia has been able to take advantage of its position of dependency.
"I am convinced that no one will ever see Russia as a reliable energy supplier, as long as Russia is doing what it is doing to Ukraine today," Pyatt said.
The US has increased its liquified natural gas (LNG) exports to Europe to ease the gas crisis, with 15 billion cubic meters of American LNG earmarked for this year and the country on track to be the world's largest LNG exporter this year, he added.
"We will continue to stay in lockstep with all of our European partners,” said the official, adding that this would also be important to Türkiye, as well as its non-EU neighbors.
The Western Balkans are in a position of “particular vulnerability,” as those countries get “100% of their gas from Russia," Pyatt said, adding that US LNG companies have been successfully working with Türkiye as an LNG buyer.
US companies also have plans to invest in LNG infrastructure in Europe, Pyatt said. "It is not the US government. It is our companies (that) have built the very expensive infrastructure that is required for liquification on the US side and the companies that are involved in the marketing," he explained, pointing out to the importance of building supportive and cooperative infrastructure among countries of the region.
“This is how we can most effectively push back on what Russia has tried to do by weaponizing its energy resources,” Pyatt noted.
- ‘Unfortunate’ production cut decision by OPEC+
On a recent decision by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies, known as OPEC+, to cut oil output, Pyatt said the US government had made clear at the most senior level, including the national security adviser, how disappointed it was in this decision.
OPEC+ agreed on Wednesday to cut production by 2 million barrels per day (bpd) from the August 2022 required production levels, starting November.
The decision by is a “clear” sign that the bloc is siding with Russia amid a growing power rivalry with the West, the White House said last Wednesday after the announcement of the move.
“How unfortunate we think it is in light of global oil markets and exactly the moment when the international community is trying to grow itself out of the COVID-19 crisis and the economic slowdown that produced and this huge shock caused by Vladimir Putin's invasion of a sovereign Ukraine,” Pyatt said.
He concluded, however, by saying that he did not want to speculate on the Saudi motivation on the decision.