NEW YORK – The United State’s former Ambassador to Greece – now Deputy Secretary of State – Geoffrey Pyatt said Greece has become a crucial energy provider for Southeast Europe and is poised to be a key player.

“Opportunities abound in the Greek energy sector,” he said at the annual Capital Link Invest in Greece forum in New York, especially over liquefied natural gas (LNG) that’s becoming an alternative to Russian sources exempted from European Union sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine.

“Now that Russia has proven once and for all that it is an unreliable energy supplier, Greece’s role as an energy hub in Southeastern Europe, with access to supplies from around the world, is more critical than ever. American LNG suppliers and service providers have increased their exports to Greece and the rest of Europe,” he said, reported Greece’s Athens-Macedonia News Agency ANA-MPA.

Pyatt argued that Greece’s emergence as an energy hub was made possible thanks to long-term investments in projects such as the Greece-Bulgaria Interconnection, the Revythoussa LNG terminal and the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline.

He said that Greece’s regional importance will continue to grow when the Alexandroupolis Floating LNG Storage and Gasification Terminal (FSRU) and the Interconnection Greece – North Macedonia (IGNM) pipeline are implemented.

Regarding the promising prospects that Greece presents for American investments in the field of Renewable Energy Sources, Pyatt underlined that Greece hosts a growing renewable energy sources sector, with potential for development in the field of wind, solar and green hydrogen.

The $369 billion in the recent Inflation Reduction Act will greatly stimulate research, development, and market deployment of these technologies both in the United States and abroad, he said.