International Meetings, Agreements, and Commitments (2020 DOE Transition)

Book 2 - Issue Papers
Entire 2020 DOE Transition book As of October 2020

The Office of Fossil Energy (FE) plays a leadership role internationally to advance U.S. strategic energy interests, including developing a low-carbon economy (hydrogen and CCUS), reducing U.S. critical minerals vulnerabilities, and supporting global energy market stability (LNG and oil).

The Office of Clean Coal and Carbon Management

The Office of Clean Coal and Carbon Management (CCCM) engages with foreign governments, research organizations, and other stakeholders, through both bilateral and multilateral agreements, including research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) cooperation. These international collaborations are designed to ensure coordination, avoid duplication of effort, enhance information accessibility, and address intellectual property issues. Such connections also provide insights on global R&D and technology innovations; deepen understanding of the unique challenges facing clean coal and carbon management in a diversity of countries; and create opportunities to increase awareness of the office’s R&D efforts and successes.

CCCM leads policy-focused and technical Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) work under numerous multilateral fora:

• Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM): CEM CCUS Initiative
• International Energy Agency (IEA): IEA Working Party on Fossil Energy (WPFE)
• IEA Technology Collaboration Programs: IEA Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme and IEA Clean Coal Centre
• Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum (CSLF)
• Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC): Expert Group on Clean Fossil Energy (EGCFE)
• Accelerating CCS Technologies (ACT) Initiative

CCCM co-leads bilateral relationships to leverage and accelerate DOE’s R&D efforts and advance U.S. policy interests. Examples include:

• Norway: Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on energy RD&D; work focused on capture, storage, and enhanced oil recovery (EOR); collaboration at Test Centre Mongstad (TCM).
• Saudi Arabia: MOU on CCUS and clean fossil fuels.•United Kingdom: MOU and implementing agreement on fossil energy and energy technology.
• China: Historic efforts have been focused on advanced coal technologies and CCUS. Forward progress and collaboration are to be determined.
• India: U.S.-India Strategic Economic Dialogue (SEP): Power & Energy Efficiency Pillar; Partnership on Clean Energy Research-Demonstration (PACE-R).
• Japan: Memorandum of Cooperation on CCUS; U.S.-Japan Strategic Energy Partnership (JUSEP); U.S.-Japan Energy Cooperation Working Group (ECWG) under the U.S.-Japan Economic Dialogue.

The office also engages with Canada and Mexico through the North American Energy Ministers Trilateral (NAEMT).

The Office of Oil & Gas

The Office of Oil & Gas (O&G) leads technical engagements with numerous countries on oil and gas topics including technologies for unconventional and offshore oil and gas production, natural gas market and infrastructure development, including small-scale LNG, methane emissions quantification and mitigation, and more. Examples include:

• U.S.-China Oil and Gas Industry Forum: Annual industry-led conference with China’s National Energy Administration, now in its 20th year.
• U.S.-India Strategic Energy Partnership: Industry-led Gas Task Force addresses India’s natural gas market development.
• U.S.-Brazil Energy Forum: Technical engagements with Brazil focused on offshore, unconventional, and natural gas markets.•Africa LNG Handbook Initiative: Workshops for African countries developing natural gas and markets.•Small Scale LNG: Engagement in Caribbean, Central America, and Eastern Europe.
• Many additional technical engagements on irregular bases with other countries.

O&G also has Memoranda of Cooperation on gas hydrate development with India, Japan, and South Korea.

The Office of Petroleum Reserves

The Office of Petroleum Reserves engages with foreign governments through bilateral agreements and international meetings for technological and managerial best practices exchanges, and participates in:

• Annual Coordinating Meeting of Entity Stockholders (ACOMES) along with 27 other oil stockpiling nations. ACOMES is held bi-annually to exchange technical information, share experiences, and discuss changes in environmental regulations, legislation, and other issues affecting the maintenance and operations of oil reserves.
• Bi-annual meetings of the International Energy Agency (IEA) Standing Group on Emergency Questions and Standing Group on the Oil Market along with 29 other members of the IEA.

OPR has increased its international engagement posture with various foreign governments for the purpose of bi-lateral information exchange. The following highlights OPR’s recent international engagements:

• Major player in the Department’s recent Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG) of India for cooperation in the following areas:
  • Cooperate in areas of safety, technology development, and management of strategic petroleum reserves.
  • Conduct bilateral site visits to the strategic petroleum reserves of the U.S. and India.
  • Hold symposia to exchange scientific and technical information.
  • Facilitate engagement with U.S. companies, as appropriate, on opportunities to participate in India’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve program.
• Meets annually with the Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC) for bilateral discussions on the technical and managerial operations of our reserves.
• Major entity in the Department’s crude oil storage lease agreement with the Government of Australia which allows for the storage of Australian-owned crude oil in the SPR.

Critical Upcoming Decisions (FY21 Q1 and Q2)

None.