A joint venture of Greek construction group AKTOR and DEPA Commercial has agreed to buy American liquefied natural gas and resell it to Albania and Bosnia, in a 20-year deal its principals valued at $9 billion.
At a press conference led by Alexandros Exarchou, managing director of Atlantic SEE LNG Trade and chairman and CEO of the AKTOR group, and Konstantinos Xifaras, chief executive of Atlantic SEE LNG Trade, the company presented the supply agreement with US firm Venture Global, running from 2030 onward. The 20-year deal covers 1.5 billion cubic meters of gas, 1 billion for Albania and 500 million for Bosnia, double the volume agreed last November.
Atlantic SEE LNG Trade is a joint venture between AKTOR and DEPA Commercial, the trading arm of Greece’s state-linked natural gas company. The gas is to be routed through the Vertical Corridor, a planned route carrying supply northward from Greece through the Balkans toward Central and Eastern Europe, reducing the region’s dependence on Russian gas.
Exarchou said the day carried particular symbolism, casting the corridor as a venture that many had written off only months ago but that now stood a real chance. “The Vertical Corridor is going from an ambitious idea to something with a real commercial and geopolitical footing,” he said. He credited US Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle directly, saying the project would not have the same momentum, or carried the same weight for Greece and the region, without American support. “Her involvement helped show that this isn’t just technically and commercially viable, it’s politically viable too,” he said.
In remarks ahead of the press conference, Environment and Energy Minister Stavros Papastavrou stressed the strategic cooperation between Greece and the United States on energy security, saying the Vertical Corridor was taking concrete shape through the Atlantic SEE LNG Trade and Venture Global agreement. He noted that the first annual capacity auction under the corridor’s new regime, featuring reduced tariffs and long-term capacity products agreed with the European Commission, is set to begin July 6.
Ambassador Guilfoyle called the doubling of the contract a milestone, saying it demonstrated the strategic alliance between Greece and the United States for Europe’s energy security.
Exarchou and Xifaras said Greece had an opportunity, particularly following the war in the Middle East, to develop into an energy hub for the wider region and for Europe. They pointed to the momentum behind the Vertical Corridor, with Xifaras suggesting the joint venture would take part in the upcoming auctions.
The two executives said the venture is also pursuing short-term gas agreements, with further announcements to come at the appropriate time. They added that the long-term contracts to supply Albania and Bosnia include take-or-pay clauses, provisions that oblige the buyer to pay for a set volume of gas whether or not it is actually taken.
Asked whether AKTOR plans to develop FSRU infrastructure, a reference to floating storage and regasification units used to import and process LNG at sea, Exarchou pointed to decisions that would be taken soon and announced in due course.
Source: ot.gr
