▶ 0:53:38Energy since the start of ukraine. Bear with me, this is clicking up euros. Right now it says 219 billion -plus euros that have now been invested in russia in purchasing russian oil and russian gas.
▶ 0:54:06It is called ru ssianfossiltracker.com, if you want to see it yourself. It goes back to the russian invasion of ukraine. You number is about 220 billion euros. As of december the eu had provided around two hundred billion euros of aid to ukraine.
▶ 0:54:33European purchases of russian energy are funding the largest land war in europe since the second world war. I just wanted to set the stage with that before we get started. I want to thank our two witnesses for being here today to discuss such an important topic. In a great deal of thanks to ranking member murphy for his participation and help in organizing this hearing.
▶ 0:55:02Our bipartisan cooperation on these issues will shine a light on some of the good work europe has done to shown up its security as well as a policy change the eu can enact to ensure the continent's energy security. Now onto our witnesses. Geoffrey pyatt is a distinguished fellow at the atlantic council's global energy center and a senior managing director at mclarty associates.
▶ 0:55:25Prior to his current position, he had a large and distinguished career serving as assistant secretary of state for energy resources and U.S. ambassador to ukraine and greece and other senior postings both abroad and in foggy bottom. He has extensive experience working on european energy security issues. We are grateful for you to be with us today to share your expertise and thank you.
▶ 0:55:51Dan byers is vice president of policy at the global energy institute at the U.S. chamber of commerce where he focuses on environmental and regulatory issues. He previously served as staff director for the house energy and environment subcommittee, as an official in the white house science and technology policy, and on the white house economic council. Mr. byers this deeply knowledgeable about energy regulation and energy markets and we are grateful he could be here today to share some of his knowledge with us. So, on to the matter at hand.
▶ 0:56:24Energy security is national security. Both united states and europe have become increasingly aware of that fact over the last four years. Creating an opportunity for us to collectively build a resilient energy production and transport network that would form the bedrock of our economies.
▶ 0:56:45The european commission's recent regulatory reform is a step in the right direction, aligning block wide regulations with more pro-energy, pro-business, pro-market policies and passing that reform to creativity and courage. I would like to commend the european people's party and the voting partners for the good work they have done on that package. But there is still a lot more to do, clearly.
▶ 0:57:11All of europe must recognize that it cannot function or recognize its economic and security goals without baseload power. And it must enact further regulatory reform to modernize the european energy ecosystem. The continent has an opportunity to permanently end its resilience in reliance on russian energy, providing true independence and autonomy for america's partners on the other side of the atlantic.
▶ 0:57:40Without enacting further regulatory reforms, europe might find itself staring down the barrel of resuming russian energy dominance or extortion, putting itself back into the vulnerable position it found itself in 2022. If europe learns nothing else from the russian invasion of ukraine, let it be that energy security and supply chains are vital to national sovereignty. Compromises cannot be made in both matters.
▶ 0:58:09We must work together to ensure those networks for resilience and survivability. I remember a trick -- trip I took to the baltics a few years ago. I remember hearing a story about once upon a time a nuclear reactor existed there that was dismantled, taken out of production. And they took me to the baltic sea where I could see a beautiful new lng input terminal.
▶ 0:58:40Once upon a time lithuania was a net energy exporter. After actions taken, shortsighted, to remove the baseload power of the nuclear power station, they became an energy importer and of course with the russian invasion of ukraine, that problem clearly was further exacerbated. I encourage our european partners to take a realistic view on building reliable energy infrastructure. One need look no further than spain and portugal to see the dangers of overreliance on intermittent sources.
▶ 0:59:10The entire iberian peninsula found itself without power last year, underscoring the vulnerability of countries that failed to maintain a diverse set of energy sources. And to be clear, where I stand on here I want to see a diverse energy portfolio. I want to see more electrons and more baseload power and more diversity of energy. So the west builds an economy that will drive our country forward. Baseload power will become even more important.
▶ 0:59:39Whether it be for data centers, manufacturing or defense production, reliable power is the backbone of future prosperity. The united states in many of our partners and allies stand ready to work with europe to increase energy supply, be it oil, gas, nuclear, hydro or renewables. The reinvigoration of our economies will require a holistic truly all of the above energy approach. I believe europe must act now.
▶ 1:00:08Enacting the regulatory reforms and infrastructure investments that are a sign of long-term energy import and ensure the continent's future. Prosperity and security are dependent on such changes and I look forward to continuing to work with our european partners to build a more secure future for both europe and the rest of the world. Now I would like to recognize the very distinguished member and ranking member for his comments, senator murphy.
▶ 1:00:35Sen. Murphy: Thank you. Thank you for pulling this hearing together and look forward to hearing from our witnesses today. When russia launched its full-scale invasion of ukraine and shattered the post where infallibility of europe's borders, it exposed this glaring strategic weakness in european security. An energy architecture deeply and dangerously dependent on russian oil and gas.
▶ 1:01:04Sen. Murphy: For years, europe's reliance on moscow's pipelines was not just an economic vulnerability, it was a geopolitical lever that vladimir putin designed and could pull at any time to coerce his neighbors and fracture democratic consensus, especially in europe. That leverage became painfully clear when moscow threatened to cut off energy flowing to ukraine through the rest of the continent and europe was left scrambling to ensure its citizens had enough power to heat their homes.
▶ 1:01:35Sen. Murphy: Ultimately, this is a good news story in that europe did not bow to russia's demands. Instead, the eu has worked successfully to end their dependence on russia and improve its energy security. Europe used to buy almost half its gas from russia. Now that figure is down to 20%, with a new commitment to buy zero oil or gas from russia by 2027. And yet another example of putin's miscalculations.
▶ 1:02:07Sen. Murphy: What he intended as leverage to try and split europe has ended up reducing russia's influence on europe. The biden administration assisted by a bipartisan consensus in congress helped europe make this transition. For example, at ambassador pyatt urging I let a bipartisan effort to finance strategic energy projects in europe, something that had not been allowed under the law prior to that change.
▶ 1:02:37Sen. Murphy: I want to thank senator johnson and other republicans who helped make that change in law happen. But president trump threatens to unwind a lot of the progress that europe has made. In part because he constantly injects frictions into our relationship with europe that causes europe to spend all of its time trying to plan and plot its response to donald trump instead of staying united in its efforts to fight back against russia's political leverage.
▶ 1:03:07Sen. Murphy: Trump's rhetoric and policy towards europe has been wild and erratic. He led these tariffs that have nothing to do with the united states and instead simply punitive. He threatens war with europe over, unbelievably, greenland. He has pulled the U.S. out of every important international organization where the U.S. and europe have traditionally built strength to confront russia and china.
▶ 1:03:32Sen. Murphy: He praises putin, gives putin the legitimizing photo ops putin so badly desires. Of course putin stands and cheers as trump injects such instability into the U.S./europe relationship that europe spends his time managing that relationship instead of making more downpayments on its efforts to become fully energy independent of russia. But it gets worse.
▶ 1:03:58Sen. Murphy: Listen, I am a supporter of getting american lng to europe. I believe that is a really important near-term and medium-term bridge. But I ultimately want a world in which europe and the united states are energy self-sufficient. The sun does shine in europe. The wind blows. Nuclear power works. But president trump's war on non-fossil fuel energy is really bad for european energy security.
▶ 1:04:28Sen. Murphy: We need to make advancements on solar and wind technology, and technology controlled by the united states and europe, not technology controlled by china. Small-scale nuclear has got to be on that list as well so europe can permanently get itself off oil and gas. Being dependent on azerbaijan or saudi arabia or venezuela or iran is not much better than being dependent on russia.
▶ 1:04:55Sen. Murphy: And to top it all off, when the united states does get involved in the short-term alternatives, which I think are incredibly necessary to russian oil, corruption creeps in. Reports are coming out of the balkans suggesting that president trump is providing critical american support for an energy project that is being led by two individuals whose qualifications are simply that they helped donald trump overturn the 2020 election.
▶ 1:05:22Sen. Murphy: Joseph flynn and jesse banal have no qualifications to build a pipeline in the balkans. They are being pushed by the administration to get involved in this project because they are close to the president. So, there are lots of topics for today's hearing. I think it is vitally important. There are lots of places where the chairman and I agree, especially when it comes to the short-term work we have to do to shore up europe's energy reserves and their flows. A lot has gone right in europe.
▶ 1:05:53Sen. Murphy: They have made this hard pivot off russian energy. But a lot of examination I think is still left to do in the ways the trump administration is very often standing in the way rather than helping europe complete this transition. Again, really looking forward to the witnesses. Thanks for convening the hearing.
▶ 1:06:09Chair Daines: Our first witness is the honorable geoffrey pyatt, senior managing director energy and critical minerals mclarty associates indistinguishable oh global energy center atlantic council. The floor is yours.
▶ 1:06:22Hon. Pyatt: Thank you very much Mr. chairman, ranking member murphy. I am delighted to be here. I enjoyed tremendous support from this committee during 12 years as a presidential appointee representing the united states around the world. It is a tremendous honor to be speaking. I was a private citizen. Also to be doing so on issues my team at the state department focused on every single day, advancing exactly the framework that you suggested, Mr. chairman.
▶ 1:06:52Hon. Pyatt: The understanding that energy security is national security. I have a longer prepared statement which I will simply introduced to the record. I would like to focus these oral remarks on a couple of simple points. First of all, Mr. chairman, I want to say I am with you on the tracker and the ipad data you showed and I would just recall, and I expect senator murphy will also recall, a long evening in the winter of 2013 spent with president janne covid jean kyiv where the president filibustered
▶ 1:07:26Hon. Pyatt: To explain all the difficulties he was living with. The number one difficulty was the pressure president putin was applying to him as he was trying to navigate through the political complexities. I also remember vividly many visits to ukraine with senator murphy and senator mccain, many others where we talked about exactly the issue you highlighted, which was the risks to europe, from its dependency on russian energy supplies and the importance of breaking that
▶ 1:07:57Hon. Pyatt: Dependency as fast as possible. I would also say in this regard, I was so pleased to see the news last week with the foreign relations committee reporting out the shadow fleet act. That is exactly the kind of measure the united states ought to be taking, to write into law sanctions against -- to harmonize U.S. sanctions against nord stream 2 with european sanctions.
▶ 1:08:23Hon. Pyatt: Because when congress acts in this way, the markets listen because it has the force of law and it will last from one administration to the next. So this is so, so important. I want to highlight, and I also highlighted in my written statement, the point senator murphy made. The dramatic process -- progress we have made over many years to change the european approach to russian energy.
▶ 1:08:49Hon. Pyatt: And I would put a particular spotlight on the regulations that the european union implemented just this week, which will accomplish a full phaseout of all russian gas by 2027, but in fact within two months, will bar spot contracts on lng. This represents a huge win for the united states.
▶ 1:09:11Hon. Pyatt: It also advances president trump 's vision of forcing putin to negotiate by signaling to him there is a real cost from his continued war on ukraine, the attacks he is waging even this week on the people of ukraine. And I think it has not been sufficiently appreciated in the washington conversation what an enormous accomplishment this is for american transatlantic energy diplomacy, but also the degree to which it was enabled.
▶ 1:09:37Hon. Pyatt: Not just by putin's strategic shortsightedness, and he has lost europe as a market forever, I am quite confident, but also by the accomplishments of the U.S. lng industry who have achieved massive inefficiencies, who have grown the U.S. into the largest lng exporter in the world, and who have demonstrated to the europeans that the cleanest, most reliable, and most affordable option for displacing russian gas is american lng.
▶ 1:10:07Hon. Pyatt: The other point I want to put a spotlight on for just a moment is the work that europe continues to do to build the infrastructure that is necessary to remap its energy system, from one that was earlier dependent on russia to a new one that will be oriented to the west.
▶ 1:10:22Hon. Pyatt: One project that is emblematic in this area, which I was proud to champion both as ambassador to greece and then as assistant secretary, is the vertical corridor, which involves building infrastructure and utilizing old soviet infrastructure to bring gas and lng from southeastern europe and especially from re-gas facilities in greece, northward into bulgaria, romania, moldova, and ukraine.
▶ 1:10:50Hon. Pyatt: Just to give you one specific example, just in the past few weeks, ukraine's largest private energy company, for the first time, had a delivery of american lng, which was landed outside athens, was then delivered to ukraine and put into ukraine's underground storage facilities, and then delivered to customers in poland. So, already the vertical corridor is demonstrating its utility as a strategic project. The best work that I did in government is the work that others follow up on.
▶ 1:11:21Hon. Pyatt: So I am absolutely delighted that jared agan at the national dominance counsel, secretary wright have all championed the same project. And I am confident between the alignment of the ukrainian partners, what greek companies are doing, and what the european commission importantly are doing, we'll see this become a successful template for how we reengineer the energy map of europe for an era where europe will never again be dependent on unreliable russian supplies.
▶ 1:11:52Hon. Pyatt: Thank you very much.
▶ 1:11:53Chair Daines: Thank you. I will turn now to Mr. dan byers , vice president of policy global energy institute U.S. chamber of commerce. The floor is yours.
▶ 1:12:03Mr. Byers: Thank you for the opportunity to testify today. As you said I am dan byers with the U.S. chamber of commerce global energy institute where, among other things, we focus on expanding exports while boosting security for america and our allies. Europe continues to take important steps to reduce its dependence on russian energy.
▶ 1:12:29Mr. Byers: But it does still remain the world's largest buyer of russian gas, importing lng had volumes worth an estimated 15 billion euro in 2025. As you said, these purchases fund the kremlin's war machine, leaves the continent exposed to significant security and supply risks. Fortunately, more progress is on the horizon with newly approved eu legislation last month mandating the complete phaseout of russian gas imports by the end of 2027.
▶ 1:12:56Mr. Byers: The trump administration has strongly encouraged this development and in december convened the partnership for transatlantic energy cooperation in athens, where several important business deals and policy goals were announced alongside european leaders. This high level political support is bolstered by the fact that energy is the centerpiece of the U.S. eu trade deal and further complemented by the U.S. export industry more than ready to help the eu beat this challenge.
▶ 1:13:24Mr. Byers: Already the world's leading exporter, the U.S. has dominated global lng development and contracting activity since the department of energy's paws on licensing new facilities was lifted in early 2025. With more than $60 billion in new investments now underway. In short, america's growing lng supply is an obvious and timely solution to europe's growing natural gas supply gap. In the industry is poised to deliver market stability our allies need.
▶ 1:13:53Mr. Byers: Despite this progress, the number of regulatory tools are hampering transatlantic commercial relationships and must be addressed. On the regulatory side, I want to call attention to the corporate sustainability due diligence directive anti-e.u. Methane's emission regulation. My written testimony expands on both of these but in brief, csddd is a sweeping law requiring U.S. companies to align their global operations with eu standards that are not binding under U.S.
▶ 1:14:20Mr. Byers: Law and it could make american companies liable in eu courts for conduct that is perfectly lawful in the U.S. this extraterritorial overreach is a major obstacle to enhanced trade and investment, in the chamber is leading efforts to address it.
▶ 1:14:36Mr. Byers: Meanwhile, the eu methane emissions regulation which requires them to report -- subject to noncompliance penalties of up to 20% of the importers total worldwide revenues. This is imposed significant risks impeding negotiation of new supply agreements with U.S. gas exporters. -- agreements. This is not limited to the U.S.
▶ 1:15:10Mr. Byers: European companies have noted this will lead to higher energy costs. We face an equally important challenge on the investment side , where projects are needed to reduce vulnerabilities and unlock access to regional markets.
▶ 1:15:26Mr. Byers: In particular, I want to follow up and highlighting the work to expand continuous south to north capacity transport from greece to ukraine, providing a reliable alternative to russian pipeline gas and so-called turkish blenders transiting into the e.u. From turkey. Despite strong political support, the corridor faces regulatory and financing barriers that must be resolved for it to fully proceed.
▶ 1:15:55Mr. Byers: We are partners in the ongoing effort to de-risk the corridor and realize lng enabled security benefits. Before I close, I would be remiss if I did not emphasize the environmental and economic benefits that a company the role as a global provider of energy security. A study undertaken for the chamber last year found that lng exports add 1.3 trillion dollars to U.S. gdp, and 500,000 jobs.
▶ 1:16:26Mr. Byers: 37% of those jobs are based in nonproducing states, so the benefits extend down the energy value chain, far beyond locations where gas is produced and exported. The study detailed the significant emissions reductions that accompany lng exports, finding that among other things the emissions intensity of russian lng and pipeline gas is 59% higher than that of U.S. lng .
▶ 1:16:54Mr. Byers: With strong leadership and cooperation between the U.S. and e.u. Government and industry, targeted policy can unlock a pathway to energy security, support U.S. jobs and economic growth. Thank you for the opportunity to testify.
▶ 1:17:12Sen. Daines: Mr. byers, thank you. I know I heard the name senator mccain a couple of times. It was back in 2014 when senator mccain had the famous line about russia is a great big gas state masquerading as a country. The more things change, the more things don't. You mentioned that vertical corridor today. A really exciting development I can see long-term, geopolitically.
▶ 1:17:40Sen. Daines: Senator murphy and I are working on this, with central asia some restrictions. The classes are the cork and central asia the wine bottle. We are popping that cork with armenia, azerbaijan, and opening up and east to west flow toward europe and the west. Rather than seeing that energy flow north, or back to the east.
▶ 1:18:09Sen. Daines: Vice president vance in fact will be traveling there this week. It is exciting, what is going on there. The world has been watching this issue for a lot of years. Senator murphy and I are committed to getting things lifted for our central asia partners. The e.u.
▶ 1:18:31Sen. Daines: Is looking at implementing its corporate sustainability due diligence directive, or csddd, which amounts to regulatory extortion designed to drive american producers out of europe or out of business. Economic analysis we have seen indicates that the full adoption of regulation could cost up to 800,000 american jobs and over $1 trillion. These are massive numbers.
▶ 1:19:03Sen. Daines: While the regulatory on the bus passed at the e.u. Parliament last fall amended the cs eee -- ddd to remove some objectionable portions, it could still cause major problems to european energy security as well as global energy producers ability to do business on the cart -- on the continent.
▶ 1:19:25Sen. Daines: Could you tell me more about the potential economic impact of csddd, as well as changes you might like to see to the regulation?
▶ 1:19:34Mr. Pyatt: -- Mr. byers: thank you for that question. It is a top priority for our members. This is not just an energy regulation. It is all sectors -- automotive, banking, etc.. And it is really remarkable and unprecedented in its range, as I said in my testimony. It can reach not just to any company that has more than $1.5 billion of revenue into the e.u.
▶ 1:20:07Mr. Pyatt: They don't even need to have an employee there. It forces them and their subsidiaries and suppliers to take certain measures to be consistent with e.u. Standards in their global operations, so it can make a U.S. company liable for actions that are lawful in the united states, liable in an e.u. Court.
▶ 1:20:29Mr. Pyatt: As you said in december -- the chamber led a large effort alongside european business and industry to explain the harms of this to both europe's competitiveness and the transatlantic relationship. So a number of very challenging provisions were removed, like one which requires net zero commitments -- not just a commitment, but an implementation plan for companies through their entire supply chain. That is a very positive step.
▶ 1:21:01Mr. Pyatt: The extra territoriality I mentioned would reach into the U.S. operations, so that is what we are going to continue to try to fix in the year ahead. I will say I think that this has been recognized as a major nontariff barrier. We were pleased that in the trade agreement, the U.S.-e.u. Framework trade agreement, csddd was specifically called out as a hindrance. We hope we can have cooperation to address the extra territoriality.
▶ 1:21:31Mr. Pyatt: Several buyers can you talk a bit more about the impact this regulation might have on european energy security, particularly europe's reliance on russian industry with lng exporters not able to do business in europe?
▶ 1:21:47Mr. Pyatt: Thank you, Mr. chairman. I would like to start by underlining my own sense from having been engaged considerably on these issues with european officials in brussels while in government, but also having lived in an e.u. Member state for six years as U.S. ambassador. Just as in U.S. democracy, a lot of legislative actions in europe are the product of balancing constituencies' competing priorities.
▶ 1:22:15Mr. Pyatt: Importantly, as dan alluded to, as regards these big measures in the energy adjacent area -- csddd and e.u. Methane regulations -- we see a strong orientation toward pragmatism and the european approach. It is important to remember. Today, europe represents 65 percent of american lng imports -- exports.
▶ 1:22:42Mr. Pyatt: But more importantly, the united states is 58% of europe's supply on lng. And closely behind the united states is cutter -- is qatar. Both secretary wright and his qatari counterpart have delivered strong messages to brussels and to european capitals about making adjustments on these provisions.
▶ 1:23:06Mr. Pyatt: I would also note that european companies -- the ceo of total, the ceo of siemens, together or send a letter in october on behalf of 40 six european companies, calling for a full repeal of the csddd.
▶ 1:23:25Mr. Pyatt: I think european democracy is functioning on these issues, and I think ultimately the driving factor is europe's determination never again to become dependent on russian energy, and the importance of the transatlantic energy relationship, which is also reflected in the e.u.-europe trade agreement that president trump reached with president von der leyen last year.
▶ 1:23:49Sen. Daines: Who spent time working on the ground in europe. Based on your assessment, the way things are shaping up there, do you think we are seeing those concerns well, and they will make adjustments?
▶ 1:24:01Mr. Byers: I think so. I think there has clearly been an adjustment in the european level of ambition. As senator murphy said, europe is very clear. They want to find reliable, affordable energy with, as you said yourself, Mr. chairman, and all of the above approach. They realize that to sustain all of their wind and solar power, they are also going to need that baseload supply. U.S.
▶ 1:24:28Mr. Byers: Lng is going to be a critical component of the european energy mix for decades to come. So we have to get this right. And as I said, I am confident from my own conversations both as a U.S.
▶ 1:24:40Mr. Byers: Government official and now is a private citizen, that the european commission also understands the importance of finding a middle ground on these issues, because there is really not a good alternative, and so much of what is evolving in terms of the energy alliance between the united states and europe is driven ultimately not by political proclamations on one side of the atlantic or the other, but by market factors. As I said in my opening statement, U.S. energy, U.S.
▶ 1:25:11Mr. Byers: Lng, is the most affordable, reliable, and the cleanest option. If I can make one other observation, especially on the issues around methane and climate impact -- it is important to recognize the leadership that american companies are demonstrating in this area.
▶ 1:25:31Mr. Byers: American gas producers have become increasingly efficient in terms of using electricity for a lot of their production, in terms of monitoring and capturing and venting and flaring associated gas. So there is a very strong alignment of interests. I'm very confident that the officials who are now responsible for negotiating these issues will be able to find a constructive way forward. Sen. burns thank you -- Sen.
▶ 1:26:03Daines: , thank you, ambassador.
▶ 1:26:06Sen. Murphy: I don't think it is a smart strategy for the united states to build our entire energy relationship on hopes that europe is going to continue to import and need access to fossil fuels. Europe has made a commitment to renewable energy that is real. Today, 50% of their consumption comes from renewables. It will be more true in the future.
▶ 1:26:32Sen. Murphy: Our relationship, I think, has to be built with a knowledge that they are always going to need some access to fossil fuels and the united states can be a player, but that we are really disadvantaged in the american economy if, as europe's share of power generation continues to move towards renewables, china rather than the united states is their primary partner for business.
▶ 1:27:01Sen. Murphy: Maybe I will ask you both to speak to that. Speak to the fact that whereas a lot of time is spent on this committee now talking about lng, appropriately, I don't really understand what our president is doing in trying to hamstring our ability to stand up advanced battery technology, solar technology, wind technology, and essentially cede that ground to the chinese.
▶ 1:27:29Sen. Murphy: They will become the preferred partner of europe if we don't have an industrial policy in the united states that allows us to catch up. There is just no way that without an industrial policy -- tell me if you think I am wrong -- a combination of incentive and tariff, that we are going to be able to be competitive with china as europe is beating out a lot of work and a lot of product when it comes to renewables.
▶ 1:27:57Sen. Murphy: So a question for both of you on this.
▶ 1:28:00Mr. Pyatt: Thank you, senator. I will go ahead and start. I think you are absolutely right. We want to open markets into europe for all technologies, all of the above. A lot of exciting investment and support from U.S. companies and a lot of opportunity there. I think realistically, china has the market cornered on solar panels. That is a supply chain where I don't know that there is a pathway to come in.
▶ 1:28:28Mr. Pyatt: I think we have to be strategic and targeted on where the opportunities are. Nuclear is a big one. We are really excited about opportunities in nuclear. Thanks to your work on dfc, there are some exciting opportunities for support on nuclear. Unable say on gas, we watched this very closely.
▶ 1:28:51Mr. Pyatt: Overall energy demand and the market share that is expected in the coming years -- they are going to need a lot for long term. It is going to increase over the next five to 10 years, europe's gas demand. Once it peaks, it is going to probably plateau. That supply gap -- this is assuming continued build out of renewables. Even in eastern europe, you have continuing economic growth.
▶ 1:29:20Mr. Pyatt: And that is just leading to more energy demand. If they adopt data centers in the same way that we are -- they are way behind us on that. But if that starts to materialize in europe the way it is in the U.S., the overall energy demand will also continue to stay higher than projected. We are going to need all the energy sources. You are absolutely right about that. We have to be strategic about where the best opportunities are for U.S. companies to sell products and technologies.
▶ 1:29:54Mr. Pyatt: Senator murphy, I agree completely. I will tell you a short story that I think illustrates the point. In september, I had an opportunity to go back to kyiv and I was there for the inauguration of the largest battle he storage -- battery storage facility in eastern europe, run by a private company, using technology from the government.
▶ 1:30:21Mr. Pyatt: It had a technology headquarter just across the river from us in boston. It is a fantastic story. It is an american champion in the battery electric storage space. Their main competitors in the market today are pyd and catl, chinese state-supported companies. They went with the american company because it was american technology.
▶ 1:30:47Mr. Pyatt: They also delivered a competitive price, and they are now taking exactly the same battery product and they are developing in poland. So it is absolutely vital that we remain competitive across all these spaces. I would second down's point on especially smr.
▶ 1:31:08Mr. Pyatt: When I was in government, tremendous interest across central and eastern europe on smr opportunities in bulgaria, romania, poland. And here we have a number of american developers. I remember I used to say with my counterpoint -- counterpart, elliot, the assistant secretary -- the global market for smr development outside the U.S.
▶ 1:31:39Mr. Pyatt: Will be decided in eastern and central europe. That is the place where a whole huge hole needs to be filled to replace electrons that formally came in the form of russian gas.
▶ 1:31:52Sen. Murphy: When you are dealing with the united states and U.S. companies, you are dealing with aboveboard transactions, whereas when you are dealing with chinese suppliers, you are often required to pay bribes, to comply with under the table requests.
▶ 1:32:10Sen. Murphy: I mentioned in my opening remarks -- there is news coming out of the balkans that suggests the trump administration is pushing on bosnia to partner to help them build a critical interconnection.
▶ 1:32:27Sen. Murphy: And this partner seems to be run by individuals who have no history in actually producing energy projects, but who are supporters of the president's attempt to overturn the 2020 election.
▶ 1:32:43Sen. Murphy: You are free to comment on this particular, what appears to me, to be gripped, but at the very least, can you offer thoughts on how important it is for the united states to make sure that we are not pushing political companies on countries overseas, that we are not engaged in the same kind of corruption that china is.
▶ 1:33:08Sen. Murphy: This seems to be the corruption and project like this where we are pushing friends of the president who are woefully unqualified to do the work. It seems to be the kind of thing that would push other countries toward china, not toward the united states.
▶ 1:33:21Mr. Pyatt: Thank you for that. Let me answer it two ways. First, I would underline the point that the energy sector is particularly capital-intensive. Most projects run into billions of dollars. And they all take many, many years to roll out.
▶ 1:33:40Mr. Pyatt: I lived through this during my six years in greece as I was working on the southern gas corridor, a project that began under my predecessor as assistant secretary three times removed, and took us almost 20 years to get that project done. It is going to take decades for that project to return the value that was nested into it. But it was hugely important in terms of unlocking southern europe's dependence on russian gas supplies.
▶ 1:34:10Mr. Pyatt: So this is a sector where industry and the market has to look beyond simply a four-year election cycle in the united states. Having that consistency of purpose that we have enjoyed in this area through republican and democratic administrations engaging in europe on energy diversification and on U.S.
▶ 1:34:30Mr. Pyatt: Reliability is tremendously important, and it is even more so because of what we started talking about today, which is the fact that we are only in the first years of what is going to be a fundamental remapping of europe's energy infrastructure. For several decades, as chairman daines noted in his opening statement, we have made the mistake of entering its energy security strategy on cheap russian gas. That has now thankfully come to an end.
▶ 1:34:58Mr. Pyatt: It is a tragedy that it took an invasion of ukraine and millions of casualties to make that reality sink home in europe. But I am confident today that europe will never again look to russia as a reliable energy supplier. We need to be there for the long term, working with europe with our best companies, operating in a transparent and aboveboard way, and we also have to maintain trust.
▶ 1:35:24Mr. Pyatt: I went through 35 years as an american foreign service officer. The trust is the coin of the realm when you are involved in diplomacy. Building that kind of long-term confidence in the way that hearings like this and a bipartisan message from the hill can do is of tremendous importance.
▶ 1:35:45Sen. Barrasso: Ambassador, good to see you again. American energy resources have been a lifeline for europe. In the last month, the U.S. supplied 60% of the european union's liquefied natural gas. Since russia's invasion of ukraine in 2022, the U.S. has supported over 3000 cargoes of liquefied natural gas to europe. When cargo provides enough heat for about a million people for one month.
▶ 1:36:15Sen. Barrasso: Do you believe the united states is a secure, reliable, and strategic energy partner?
▶ 1:36:20Mr. Pyatt: Absolutely, unequivocally.
▶ 1:36:24Sen. Barrasso: What additional efforts can the U.S. take to help our allies?
▶ 1:36:28Mr. Pyatt: I think first and foremost, we need to keep doing what we are doing, to continue to expand america's industry. I talked about the tremendous accomplishment of american producers who have more than doubled america's liquefaction capacity in recent years. I also think we need to find a way to keep talking about issues around climate and the environment. I had the opportunity, for the first time in my life, late last week, to visit lake charles, louisiana.
▶ 1:36:59Mr. Pyatt: I was there with the governor and with a number of our biggest lng producers. But I was also there with some of the europeans. They had spent the day before our conference visiting cp to and some of the other lng facilities around lake charles.
▶ 1:37:13Mr. Pyatt: And they all said to me, wow, I expected something that looked like -- that looked industrial, with flares and rusty chains, and I saw something that looks more like a high-tech manufacturing facility. I think telling that story -- one other anecdote in this story.
▶ 1:37:35Mr. Pyatt: I had the opportunity as assistant secretary to travel to pennsylvania and visit some fracking operated by a great pennsylvania company. What was most striking to me about that visit -- when you see what our gas producers are doing in the marsalis region, these are people who are incredibly proud of the work they are doing, but also producing sometimes within a mile or two of farms, schools, and communities.
▶ 1:38:06Mr. Pyatt: They are incredibly attentive to issues like methane and flaring. They make goods in the cleanest way possible.
▶ 1:38:18Sen. Barrasso: For years, russia has dominated the global uranium market. Russia produces 40% of america's -- of the world enrichment capacity, enriched uranium. I worked on a bipartisan basis to enact a prohibition on russian uranium to the united states. This takes full effect a few years from now.
▶ 1:38:41Sen. Barrasso: European nations are even more dependent on russia, but are trying to -- to ease that alliance. What kind of strain does that put on the european regime?
▶ 1:38:52Mr. Pyatt: I would highlight to issues on this, senator. First off, I applaud what you and others did to implement the ban on imports. I remember sitting in this very chair, being asked by chairman risch, about the same issue. It is tremendous to see the action.
▶ 1:39:13Mr. Pyatt: It was important that congress included in its ban on uranium imports provision for a circular fund to help capitalize on the investment to build another russian supply chain. Importantly, as we see a new generation of reactors, and if our scientists and engineers are successful, rolling out infrastructure, we are going to need greatly increased volumes of nuclear fuel supply.
▶ 1:39:44Mr. Pyatt: With what chairman daines talked about in terms of central asia, the uranium supplier -- and like every other mining and mineral issue in the united states, where do we source the ores and also processing that makes these commodities usable, in this case, for nuclear power?
▶ 1:40:02Sen. Barrasso: How does their own department of energy cap -- energy prioritize building out U.S. investments to support our nation?
▶ 1:40:13Mr. Pyatt: Critically important. Last night, I had the opportunity to have dinner with the head of one of japan's largest utility companies. He was here. He had visited -- he spent two days in the united states visiting some of our nuclear reactors. Japan is looking at a new generation of nuclear reactors having spent 15 years since the fukushima disaster shutting down facilities.
▶ 1:40:42Mr. Pyatt: He was incredibly enthusiastic about what he saw happening in the united states. We have to put up partnerships with the japanese, with korea, with canada, with our european allies. I talked in my opening statement about the tremendous progress brussels has made in the phasing out of russian energy. That includes gas and oil. Europe is going to have the same limit our operators have here in the united states.
▶ 1:41:11Sen. Barrasso: Thank you.
▶ 1:41:15Sen. Daines: Turkmenistan is the fourth or fifth largest natural gas reserves in the world. We need to open up that east-west corridor, very important as we think long term energy security. There have been a number of european companies that have invested to create long-term stability for their grids.
▶ 1:41:46Sen. Daines: Greece -- an expert on greece. They announced last year they will be starting new offshore gas truly projects for the first time in 40 years. Croatia, another bright spot in southeastern europe. They have a floating terminal that has opened up six point one billion cubic meters in annual gas supply, fully offsetting the prior reliance on russian gas.
▶ 1:42:11Sen. Daines: For the last decade, the baltic states have been working to cut all ties with russian industry -- russian energy. And we have seen investment in a vertical corridor. My question -- do you believe these projects represent a change in sentiment for the e.u. Bloc, or are these silly strategic investments being made by the countries most threatened by russia?
▶ 1:42:38Mr. Pyatt: I think these projects, first and foremost, are a reaction to the huge wake-up call europe received at the end of 2021 in the beginning of 2022, when putin demonstrated his willingness to use energy as a weapon against the european union.
▶ 1:43:00Mr. Pyatt: I can remember vividly conversations with german and other officials, who insisted that russia would never cut off supplies because russia needed the european market. In fact, putin saw energy cutoffs as an essential element of his strategy for destroying ukraine, and as senator murphy alerted to, he thought europe was going to cave.
▶ 1:43:26Mr. Pyatt: I would give the biden administration tremendous credit for the work we did, including the lng task force between biden and president von der leyen, and on the ground work with our lng producers, to make sure putin failed in that effort. I think it is a new generation of investment. I would put a particular spotlight on the role american companies are made -- are playing in this area. Exxon mobil is working on the great project you alluded to.
▶ 1:43:55Mr. Pyatt: Chevron is playing a leading role offshore of cyprus, israel, egypt, working to build energy opportunities to feed into that european market. I hope that our companies will continue to play an important role, another reason we have to get csddd right. This is one important element of what remains, despite all of the frictions. I was in davos two weeks ago. The level of anxiety around greenland is off the chart.
▶ 1:44:27Mr. Pyatt: Over the long term, the trade and investment that flows across the atlantic ocean -- we need to find a way to continue to reinforce that partnership. It is private sector investments in both directions. European companies investing in the united states and american companies investing in energy in europe would help to stabilize the relationship in years ahead.
▶ 1:44:52Sen. Daines: One investment congress made -- I think there is an opportunity for targeted investment or financing -- some bank might help facilitate other projects.
▶ 1:45:06Mr. Pyatt: Absolutely. I was grateful senator murphy mentioned the work he did with senator johnson on the ndaa in 2019, which gave dfc authorization to work in greece when I was ambassador. That turned into a $125 million investment into a shipyard that otherwise would have gone to china.
▶ 1:45:26Mr. Pyatt: There is potential for dfc to do more on that corridor, to do more on transmission lines, more on gas storage, to do more on battery storage, which is such an important part of the story for europe and the united states as we seek to stabilize our grid come up where we are going through a super cycle of expanded demand.
▶ 1:45:49Sen. Murphy: Thank you very much. One final question. Keep you on the spot, ambassador. You have been our most adept and capable ambassador for the last two decades, turning around the U.S. relationship in greece, but also helping to midwife ukraine through its most turbulent, troubled the time.
▶ 1:46:17Sen. Murphy: On thursday, january 26, the president announced putin had agreed to pause attacks on kyiv and other cities because of the freezing temperatures. Obviously, russia is directing attacks at ukraine's energy infrastructure. And then on february 2, a few days later, the biggest attacks of the year came, attacking ukraine's energy infrastructure.
▶ 1:46:41Sen. Murphy: A bunch of us, democrats and republicans, got a closed-door briefing yesterday on the situation in kyiv, and it is dystopian right now. There is virtually no electricity that is reliable. It is a winter that is already off the charts with respect to record cold.
▶ 1:47:03Sen. Murphy: Instead of criticizing putin for these attacks, president trump tried to explain it away, saying the moratorium on attacks had been secretly posted, and in fact what putin was doing was outside the moratorium, instead of doing what any human would have done, which is talk about the immorality of making families and children freeze deliberately. That is a war crime.
▶ 1:47:29Sen. Murphy: I want to ask you, what do you see as the path forward to try to shore up, in the short term, ukraine's energy infrastructure? They are not through this awful winter. It probably will harden their resolve to continue the fight. Airstrikes really have the intended effect, which is to cow a population into acquiescence.
▶ 1:47:55Sen. Murphy: What should our role be as a congress and as a country to help stop this deliberate assault on ukraine's energy infrastructure? What are the next steps to get us out of this moment?
▶ 1:48:06Mr. Pyatt: Thank you, senator murphy, and I think you put it very well. I would emphasize foremost your point about humanitarian catastrophe that putin has inflicted on ukraine today. It is -20 degrees in kyiv right now. The situation is extremely difficult. We need to understand kitten is attacking energy infrastructure, conducting a war crime, because he is failing on the battlefield.
▶ 1:48:36Mr. Pyatt: He is trying to break the will of the ukrainian people. I am confident he will fail in that regard, but we need to be doing everything we possibly can to help them in that regard. First and foremost, we need to call it out for what it is. I was very glad to see senator graham and others speaking out in exactly these terms this week.
▶ 1:48:57Mr. Pyatt: Second, I think it is important that the united states continues to find whatever resources we have available that can be brought to bear to source the materials ukraine needs to keep the rights -- the lights on. In government, I led the g7 plus task force that was created by secretary blinken, in order to support ukraine's energy infrastructure.
▶ 1:49:20Mr. Pyatt: I had a team of officials in the energy bureau that was working every single day to find transformers and switchgear and generators, and working with all of our allies, $5 billion of equipment, most of which was not paid for by the american taxpayer, and a lot of which was sourced from american manufacturers. I understand there are still certain accounts floating out there related to the demise of usaid, funds that could be channeled for this purpose. I hope that will happen quickly.
▶ 1:49:52Sen. Murphy: Usaid was a critical player for a long time in helping to shore up ukrainian energy infrastructure, correct?
▶ 1:49:58Mr. Pyatt: Usaid, department of energy, and the state department's energy bureau under secretary blinken. I must say it is a source of great satisfaction to me that when I go back to ukraine, that effort is still very well remembered, precisely because it touches every single ukrainian civilian.
▶ 1:50:21Sen. Murphy: Senator graham's comments were strong, but he is not the secretary of state, and we need the white house to be condemning the war crimes that putin is committing, rather than explaining them away.
▶ 1:50:41Sen. Daines: Senator murphy, thank you. We are going to wrap this hearing up. Thank you for exchanging thoughts here today. It is worth thinking the ukrainian government for continuing to reduce their russian oil imports. I was in delhi, working with leaders in india. President trump and Mr. modi have agreement on a trade deal.
▶ 1:51:10Sen. Daines: They continue to reduce their dependence on cheap russian oil. Without objection, today's complete agenda, as well as all written statements and letters that have been sent to the subcommittee, will be included in the record. Sincere thank you to our witnesses today for the back and forth, the thoughtful dialogue on very serious issues that are facing europe, and providing us with the benefit of your testimony. For the information of members, the record will be open until the close of business tomorrow.
▶ 1:51:40Sen. Daines: We ask the witness is to respond as promptly as possible. Responses will also be a part of the record. With thanks to the committee and a warm thanks to my ranking member senator murphy, this hearing is now adjourned.