Office of International Affairs (2020 Presidential transition)

Book 3 - Organization Overview
Entire 2020 DOE Transition book As of October 2020

The Office of International Affairs (IA) has the primary responsibility for addressing international energy issues affecting the United States on behalf of the Department of Energy. The office seeks to:

• Promote American Energy Dominance, including expansion of markets for U.S. energy and energy technology exports as the U.S. changes from an energy importer to an energy exporter.
• Advance the U.S. competitive energy philosophy utilizing all fuels and all technologies.
• Enhance global energy security and enhance foreign investment protections in countries vulnerable to malign influence.

Mission Statement

The Office of International Affairs (IA) is the Primary DOE coordinator for the international implementation of activities across all program offices for the Secretary and Deputy Secretary advancing U.S. economic and energy security goals, including countering malign activities.

IA is also responsible for promoting US energy exports and trade to support growth, supporting ally and partner diversification of energy sources and supplies, strengthening global energy supply chains.

Budget

Fiscal Year	Budget
FY 2019 enacted	$22,878,000
FY 2020	$26,825,000
FY 2021 request	$32,959,000

Human Resources

FY 2020 authorized full-time equivalents (FTEs): 73

History

The Office of International Affairs was established when the Department of Energy Organization Act of 1977 was passed. This Act also required an Assistant Secretary for International Affairs (IA-1). Since the Department was established in response to the oil price shocks in the 1970s, international affairs was always heavily involved in providing energy security for the United States.

Functions

IA’s functions include:

Energy Security, Efficiency and Diversity of Supply

Enhance global energy security through diversification, resilience, and access to secure and reliable energy sources.

Work to counter malign influence through implementation of the Foreign Investment Risk Review and Modernization Act of 2018; ensuring the energy security of NATO and other allies.

Provide independent technical and policy advice for the Administration

Bilateral and Multilateral Engagement

Maintain high-level cooperation with key energy partners.

Create a vibrant global regulatory and innovation ecosystem, in which the United States is the leader and strategically collaborates with allies and partners.

Market Development

Develop and maintain energy markets to promote U.S. energy exports and trade.

Promote and protect the U.S. innovation base through results-oriented science and technology collaborations with allies and partners.

Regional Expertise

Through regional expertise, The the Office of International Affairs leads the Department’s coordination of global efforts to develop and execute policy and technical energy programs to promote security for the United States and its partners and allies; U.S. economic growth that benefits American business and people; and global political stability and prosperity through energy development. The regional offices of IA leverage years of global relationships with both foreign and domestic stakeholders to serve as the principal advisor to the Secretary of Energy on all International Energy issues.

IA maintains regular bilateral engagements with numerous countries including: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Egypt, Greece, India, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Libya, Mexico, Poland, Qatar, Romania, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, UAE, United Kingdom, and Vietnam.

Recent Organization Accomplishments

Oil Demand Shock Actions Under COVID-19

IA played an instrumental role in domestic and international discussions with G20 and OPEC producing countries in order to advocate programs to balance the supply and demand of the oil market and reduce the negative impact from COVID-19.

Civil Nuclear Projects

IA is in the process of completing the signings of two Intergovernmental Agreements (IGA) with Poland and Romania for the development of civil nuclear reactors, supporting U.S. technology, and U.S contractor support (EPC’s). These agreements will serve as a template for the region.

IA leads the interagency effort to bolster U.S. civil nuclear technology in Europe to ensure level playing field for US vendors; strengthen bilateral cooperation with long-term investment relation; thwart malign influence of Russia and China; and provide reliable, safe and clean energy options for allies and partners. IA is also pursuing civil nuclear development in the UK, Slovenia, Brazil and various other countries.

Partnership for Transatlantic Energy Cooperation (P-TEC)

Through IA’s leadership in the Partnership for Transatlantic Energy and Climate Cooperation (P-TEC) four lines of discussion, working groups were established on the topics of critical infrastructure, nuclear energy, security of fuel supply, and energy efficiency and renewable energy. As a result of this, member countries are developing programs to assure the desynchronization of the Baltics from Russian influence and promote integration into the European grid. Member countries are also working to ensure their security of supply through key interconnectors for natural gas and small scale LNG terminals throughout Europe.

P-TEC was founded to support the energy goals of the Three Seas Initiative (3S1) by providing support to European countries as they seek to reduce their energy dependence on Russia. P-TEC includes participation from 23 countries and European Union, as well as State and USAID. Participation is broken up into the four working groups (as described above) and each is co-chaired by a DOE Office and a P-TEC member country.

International Energy Agency (IEA)

IA has completed two strategic petroleum reserve agreements with Australia (leasing agreement) and New Zealand (ticketing arrangement) to help countries meet their IEA obligations.

IA-1 serves as a governing board member of the IEA and DOE has leadership roles on many IEA committees. Our leadership led to the creation of the Energy Efficiency Hub and the Nuclear Innovation Clean Energy (NICE) Future Initiative and Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage (CCUS) Initiative under the Clean Energy Ministerial.

The IEA provides authoritative and policy-relevant statistics, modeling, analysis, and activity coordination with a core focus on energy security. In recent years, the IEA has further developed its clean energy capacities with a systems-wide, “all fuels, all technologies” approach in sync with U.S. policy.

U.S. LNG Export Opportunities

IA helped facilitate LNG export opportunities for several countries including Croatia, Portugal, Greece, Israel, Morocco and Vietnam.

Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS)

IA implements the CFIUS program for the Department of Energy and reviews approximately 250 cases per year with an average of 40 active cases to address national security concerns over foreign exploitation of certain investment structures. Based on the expansion of CFIUS’ jurisdiction and authority under the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act of 2018 (FIRRMA), anticipated this will rise to 1,000 investigations per year.

Energy Partnerships with UAE and Israel

Following on the recently signed Abraham Accords, IA is forming and developing strategic energy partnerships with the UAE and Israel to promote energy security and prosperity in the region.

Serbia and Kosovo

Following the President’s signing of the Serbia-Kosovo Economic Normalization Agreement (ENA) IA leads a delegation of technical experts to the region to conduct an assessment for management of their cross-border lake and for energy diversification in the region.

Iraq Strategic Energy Dialogues

IA helped to facilitate $6 Billion in energy deals between U.S. companies and Iraq that were announced during the Prime Minister’s visit to the White House in August 2020.

Israel-U.S. Binational Industrial Research and Development (BIRD) Program

In 2019, through the BIRD Energy program IA selected 7 projects for funding and invested $6.4 million in cooperative Israel-U.S. clean energy projects. The total value of the approved projects was $15.4 million, which includes $9 million of cost share from the companies selected for funding.

BIRD Energy is a joint program between the U.S. Department of Energy, the Israel Ministry of Energy jointly with the Israel Innovation Authority, and the BIRD Foundation. This program develops innovation through U.S.-Israel cooperation on a range of clean energy technologies, including renewable energy, energy efficiency, natural gas, and energy–water technologies.

G20

IA coordinates DOE’s G-20 activities, including U.S. engagement in the energy working groups and the G20 Energy Ministers’ meetings, and supports the White House in executing its G-20 strategies. IA negotiated the G20 Energy Communique for the United States on September 28, 2020.

Leadership Challenges

Budget Constraints

Budget constraints prohibited the office from supporting over $3 million worth of initiatives that would promote our objectives.

COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly limited our ability to travel and to foster personal connections with our allies and counterparts. At the same time, the pandemic has placed a higher demand on virtual international events and reduced staff in the building to assist with said events.

Critical Events and Action Items

2021 Q1 critical events and action items, in chronological order:

• Munich Security Conference (February 2021)
• Partnership for Transatlantic Energy Cooperation (P-TEC) Virtual Ministerial (February 2021 if not held late 2020)
• US-EU Energy Summit (March TBC)
• SMR U.S.-E.U. Conference (March TBC)
• CERA Week (March 1-5, 2021)
• International Energy Agency (IEA) Governing Board Meeting (March 24-25, 2021)
• Gulf of Aqaba Energy Dialogue (TBD)
• Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum Ministerial (TBD)
• Strategic Energy Dialogues with KSA, UAE, Egypt, Qatar, and South Africa

External links

• Office of International Affairs
• Department of Energy