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Deal part of US effort to replace Russian gas in Europe

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Greece expanding US LNG imports, infrastructure since 2020

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US wants to replace 'every last molecule' of Russian gas

in

Western Europe, officials say

(Adds Ukraine, Poland, agreement among gas grid operators)

By Lefteris Papadimas and Edward McAllister

ATHENS, Nov 7 (Reuters) - 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 ), 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.

(Reporting by Lefteris Papadimas and Edward McAllister; Writing

by Angeliki Koutantou;

Editing by Tomasz Janowski and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)