Russia will never be seen as reliable energy supplier, U.S. energy official says

U.S. Assistant Secretary for Energy Resources Geoffrey Pyatt said on Friday Russia would never again be viewed as a reliable energy supplier, a day after Washington imposed fresh sanctions on Moscow because of its war in Ukraine.

Speaking at an online briefing ahead of next week’s U.S.-Japan Energy Security Dialogue, Pyatt also said the United States and its partners in the Group of 7 were committed to denying Russia any energy revenues.

The United States on Thursday imposed the first sanctions on owners of tankers carrying Russian oil priced above the G7’s price cap of $60 a barrel, in an effort to close loopholes in the mechanism.

“It’s very clear to me that Russia is never again going to be viewed as a reliable energy supplier,” Pyatt told reporters.

“In the case of our G7 partners in particular, we are also committed to work jointly to deny Russia future energy revenues, and target in particular investments and projects growing Russia’s future energy revenue,” he added.

Russia has played down the impact of Western sanctions, saying they are used by the United States to eliminate Moscow as a competitor in global energy supplies.

Asked about purchases of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) by some Asian countries, Pyatt said that unlike oil, gas exports were not covered by Western sanctions “so this is a matter of how different countries accommodate their energy mix and seek to reduce their exposure to Russia, to Russian supplies”.

In September, the United States issued fresh sanctions related to Russia’s Novatek-led Arctic LNG 2 project in which two Japanese energy firms – Mitsui and JOGMEC – are shareholders.

The sanctions do not apply to the project itself nor to its shareholders, but a Japan government source had said they could complicate how Mitsui and JOGMEC provide support for the project and could also delay production.

(Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; editing by Miral Fahmy)