Atlantic Council

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On December 18, the Atlantic Council held a discussion with the authors of the recently released Senate Foreign Relations Committee report, "Energy and Security from the Caspian to Europe." Marik String, deputy chief counsel of the Committee, and Neil Brown, senior professional staff member of the Committee, were commissioned by Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN) to assess the next installment of the Southern Corridor pipeline intended to bring natural gas from the Caspian Sea to Europe. David Koranyi, deputy director, Patriciu Eurasia Center and Adnan Vatansever, independent analyst, served as discussants. Ross Wilson, Patriciu Eurasia Center director moderated.

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The report examines the impact of the Obama Administration’s decision to effectively eliminate the position of US Envoy for Eurasian Energy Security; assesses competing pipeline proposals under consideration; and examines the prospect of including gas from Turkmenistan, Iraq, Kazakhstan, and the Eastern Mediterranean in the Southern Corridor. The report was released in conjunction with legislation offered by Senator Lugar that is intended to increase US exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to NATO allies.

Featuring

Neil Brown
Senior Professional Staff Member
US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations

Marik String
Deputy Chief Counsel and Senior Professional Staff Member
US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations

Discussants

David Koranyi
Deputy Director, Patriciu Eurasia Center
Atlantic Council

Adnan Vatansever
Independent Analyst

Moderated by

Ross Wilson
Director, Patriciu Eurasia Center
Atlantic Council

Neil Brown is senior professional staff member of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee with primary responsibility for energy and related security, economic, and environmental matters, and nonproliferation through Nunn-Lugar Global. Mr. Brown also is senior advisor to the Senate’s most senior Republican, Richard Lugar (R-IN), and director of his Energy Initiative, leading a team working on the Senator’s top domestic priority.

Marik String serves as deputy chief counsel and senior professional staff member for European and Eurasian Affairs on the Republican staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee under Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN), where he has worked since 2006. He advises on international and national security law and staffs the Committee’s consideration of legislation, resolutions, and treaties, including the New Strategic Arms Reduction (New START) Treaty in 2010. He is also responsible for Congressional oversight of US foreign, defense, trade, and sanctions policy relating to the fifty-five nations of Europe and the former Soviet Union, as well as international organizations in Europe, including NATO, the European Union (EU), and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
(OSCE).

David Koranyi is deputy director of the Council's Patriciu Eurasia Center. Mr. Koranyi is also a nonresident fellow at The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) Center for Transatlantic Relations (CTR). Previously he served as under-secretary of state and chief foreign policy and national security advisor to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Hungary, Gordon Bajnai from 2009 to 2010.

Adnan Vatansever is an independent analyst. Previously he was a senior associate in the Energy and Climate Program at the Carnegie Endowment. He specializes in the energy sectors of the former Soviet republics and Eastern Europe. His particular focus is on energy efficiency and carbon reduction, energy security, and Russia’s economic diversification. He also worked as a senior associate for Cambridge Energy Research Associates (IHS CERA), specializing in the oil and gas industries in Eurasia.

MEDIA MENTIONS

Lugar seeks free-trade LNG export footing for NATO allies - Nick Snow, Oil & Gas Journal