Greek joint venture seeking 20-year US Liquefied Natural Gas deal to boost Southern Europe's gas supplies

Atlantic Sea LNG Trade is a joint venture of Greece's gas supplier DEPA and the construction group Aktor. It is currently in negotiations to secure 15 billion cubic metres (bcm), or LNG, from the United States every year for 20 years, to supply southern Europe.

Greece is seeking to strengthen its role as a gas transit route into Europe, and the continent is preparing to stop Russian gas imports in late 2027. This will intensify competition for long-term LNG supplies and increase pressure on governments so they don't get caught short. In an interview, CEO Alexandros exarchou said that if Europe does not want to be a hostage again to gas it must secure long-term deals with the United States to ensure balance and availability in the future.

Atlantic Sea LNG Trade?which sells LNG to Ukraine and central Europe, and imports LNG to Greece, is looking to reach an agreement at a meeting on the 24th of February in Washington.

Exarchou said that now is the time to negotiate future prices. He argued that future prices could be "significantly" higher due to tighter market conditions after 2030, when the available supply might not meet the demand.

The company is in the process of negotiating long-term contracts with U.S. gas suppliers. It is also holding parallel discussions with prospective buyers along the Vertical Gas Corridor, a route that will transport gas from Greece to central Europe and Ukraine. He said that these potential buyers were in Albania, North Macedonia and Bulgaria. They also included Romania, Hungary, Moldova and Austria.

"We are seeing a serious increase in consumer demand (in the North of the corridor). Exarchou stated that consumer gas consumption is high in Romania, Hungary, and Moldova, while industrial usage is higher as you move towards the south.

Atlantic Sea LNG Trade, a U.S. LNG trader, signed its first U.S. LNG agreement with Ukraine on Monday. A cargo is scheduled to be delivered in March through Greece's Revithoussa Terminal and then via Bulgaria, Romania, and Moldova to Ukraine's Naftogaz energy company. (Reporting and editing by Dmitry Zhdannikov, Marwa Rashad)

(source: Reuters)