Greece agreed on Friday to import 700 million cubic metres of U.S. liquefied natural gas per year starting in 2030 in its first long-term deal with Washington, which seeks to replace Russian supplies to Europe.
The 20-year deal aims to boost U.S. LNG exports from Greece to its northern European neighbours including Ukraine and comes weeks after the European Union approved a ban on Russian LNG from 2027 over its war in Ukraine.
The EU pledged to buy $250 billion in U.S. oil, LNG and nuclear technology annually for the next three years in a trade deal with the Trump administration signed in July.
Friday's deal could see U.S. LNG purchases by Greece increasing to about 2 billion cubic metres per year, the country's biggest gas utility DEPA said in a statement. The supply will be facilitated by a joint venture between DEPA and energy firm Aktor with U.S.-based Venture Global VG.N, DEPA said.
Ukraine, Romania Express Interest in Buying LNG
U.S. officials hailed the deal at an energy conference in Athens. They said on Thursday they want to replace "every last molecule" of Russian gas in Western Europe in the coming years.
"Greece had been at the end of a pipeline of a Russia-dominated energy supply system. Today, Greece becomes a launch point, the entry into Europe for American energy trade," U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright told a press conference.
Ukraine and Romania have expressed interest in buying up to 3.7 billion cubic metres of LNG from the Greek joint venture in the 2030-2050 period, DEPA said.
Keeping Ukraine Supplied
Greece has tripled gas imports since 2020 and backed a transportation scheme via a once underused Transbalkan pipeline to export more gas from its terminals to Ukraine as it seeks to bolster its role as a transit route of U.S. LNG into northern Europe through Bulgaria, its prime minister said on Friday.
"Most of the gas that now comes into Greece does not stay in Greece," Kyriakos Mitsotakis said at the energy conference, adding that the EU ban on Russian gas was a major opportunity to redraw the energy map of Southeastern Europe.
Ukraine has resumed gas imports via the Transbalkan route to keep its heating and power systems running through the winter after widespread damage to its energy infrastructure from intensified Russian attacks.
Wright promised to keep Ukraine supplied this year and the gas grid operators of Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova and Ukraine on Friday signed a joint letter, asking their regulators to approve increased transportation capacities from Greece to Ukraine through the Transbalkan pipeline until April 2026.
(Reuters - Reporting by Lefteris Papadimas and Edward McAllister; Writing by Angeliki Koutantou;Editing by Tomasz Janowski and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)