Greece signs long-term LNG supply agreement with US

Greece signed a 20-year deal to import 0.7 bcm of liquefied gas each year, starting in 2030. This is its first long term gas supply agreement with the United States. The deal aims to replace Russian gas shipments into Europe. The 20-year agreement comes just months after Trump's administration and the European Union inked a trade agreement in July. Europe pledged to purchase $250 billion of U.S. oil, LNG, and nuclear technology annually over the next three-year period as it sought to phase out Russian natural gas by 2027.

Venture Global, a U.S. company, and Greece's largest gas utility DEPA have agreed to supply the product. Venture Global's senior vice president Shaylyn Hines said that the company is building an export facility to Louisiana.

U.S. officials welcomed the deal at an energy conference held in Athens on Friday. Washington stated that it wanted to replace every Russian gas molecule entering Western Europe over the next few years. Greece was at the end a Russian-dominated energy system. "Today, Greece is the entry point into Europe for American trade in energy," U.S. Energy Sec. Chris Wright said at a press event in Athens.

Since 2020, Greece has increased its U.S. LNG exports. It has also expanded its gas infrastructure. And it is backing a scheme to transport imported gas via an underused gas pipe to Ukraine from its LNG terminals through Bulgaria and Romania.

Wright has promised to supply Ukraine this year. (Reporting and editing by Tomasz Janowski and Emelia Sithole Matarise; Lefteris papadimas, Edward McAllister)

(source: Reuters)