WASHINGTON -- The administration of President Barack Obama has appointed former U.S. Ambassador Richard Morningstar as a special envoy for Eurasian energy issues, the State Department said Monday.

Morningstar will provide "strategic advice" to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the development, transit and distribution of energy resources in Eurasia, State Department spokesman Robert Wood said.

"Ambassador Morningstar and his staff will support the United States' energy goals in the Eurasian region," Wood said. "He will work on key energy issues relating to Europe, Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, Central Asia and the Caucasus."

A former ambassador to the European Union, Morningstar was a special adviser to Clinton's husband, former President Bill Clinton, on Caspian Basin energy diplomacy. He is currently a lecturer at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.