The deputy undersecretary of the U.S. Bureau of Energy Resources stressed the importance of the energy dialogue between Washington and Ankara while highlighting the opportunities for cooperation in liquefied natural gas (LNG), energy conversion and small modular nuclear reactors.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA) in Istanbul within the scope of his visits to Türkiye, Romania and Bulgaria, Deputy Undersecretary Geoffrey Pyatt evaluated the prospect of Türkiye and the U.S. cooperating in energy and examined the deepening energy crisis started by Russia's war in Ukraine and regional developments.

The U.S. official, who met with Deputy Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar and other officials while in the country, drew attention to the importance that the U.S. government attaches to the dialogue with Türkiye regarding gas supply issues, the war in Ukraine and the long-term transformation in energy.

"During my visit, I found a high level of consensus with the Turkish authorities on the importance of dialogue between the Turkish authorities on stability in energy markets, global energy geopolitics and energy transition between Washington and Ankara," he said.

Pyatt said that the world is experiencing an energy crisis due to Russia's weaponization of energy resources and that the problems created by this crisis are felt in every corner of the world, from inflation to the increase in commodity prices. Expressing that Europe has become more fragile amid this crisis due to its high dependence on Russian gas, Pyatt said: "Europe is aware that Russia is trying to turn this dependency to its advantage and we are working together to overcome the crisis as quickly as possible."

"We will continue to work together with all our European partners, including Türkiye, to overcome this crisis. Türkiye's neighboring countries and Western Balkan countries are particularly vulnerable to the gas crisis. Unlike Türkiye, these countries are 100% dependent on Russia for gas supply," Pyatt underlined.

Expressing that the U.S.’ LNG supply to Europe will continue to increase, Pyatt said, "The U.S. is on the way to become the world's largest LNG exporter this year. It is clear that U.S. companies are working successfully with Türkiye in the field of LNG, and at the same time, companies are using regasification facilities."

"I am very pleased to hear that Türkiye is exploring the possibilities. Cooperation in this field also enables us to reduce the use of fossil fuels and to find short-term solutions to overcome the energy crisis created by Russia," he said.