EU and USA increase cooperation in energy

Blinken and the EU High Representative for Foreign Relations and Security Policy Josep Borrell made statements before the EU-US Energy Council to be held in Brussels.

Reminding that the USA and the EU work together on energy security, Blinken stated that the USA cooperates with the EU to ensure the energy supply security of Europe.

Blinken stated that they want to accelerate the climate-friendly transformation and transition to clean energy, and establish durable, secure and diversified supply chains for renewable energy.

Pointing out that Russia’s use of energy as a weapon has accelerated the cooperation between the EU and the USA in energy, Blinken said, «Last year, the USA and Europe further increased cooperation in energy security. The USA exported a total of 56 billion cubic meters of LNG to Europe in 2022.» he said.

Blinken stated that 40 percent of Europe’s total LNG imports come from the USA, and LNG exports from the USA to Europe increased by 140 percent last year compared to the previous year.

Reminding that the EU was 40 percent dependent on Russian gas at the beginning of the war, Blinken stated that this decreased to 15 percent at the end of 2022.

«At the EU-US Energy Council meeting, we will focus on how we can further reduce Europe’s dependence on Russian energy and increase the clean energy production of the Euro-Atlantic regions,» Blinken said. said.

Borrell said, «We have succeeded in getting rid of dependence on Russia in natural gas.» he said.

Explaining that they will discuss how to accelerate the green energy transformation at the meeting, Borrell said that reducing methane gas emissions and starting a global energy efficiency initiative will be discussed.

The EU-US Energy Council meeting will be attended by Borrell and Blinken, along with EU Commission Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson and US Deputy Energy Minister David Turk.

The meeting will focus on accelerating the green transformation, energy security, the outlook for the next winter, clean energy technologies, energy saving and reducing methane emissions.

The US became the EU’s main LNG supplier last year as the war broke out and natural gas shipments from Russia to Europe plummeted.

LNG exports of the USA to the EU, which was 22 billion cubic meters in 2021, reached 56 billion cubic meters in 2022.

The USA carried out 52 percent of its LNG exports to the EU.

In addition, while Russia’s share in EU gas imports was 37 percent in March 2022, this rate decreased to 16 percent at the end of the year.

EU countries also reduced their total natural gas demand by 19 percent between August 2022 and January 2023.