LONDON, Feb 25 - Private Ukrainian gas company DTEK

hopes to sign long-term gas import deals with U.S. firms Venture

Global ( VG ) or Cheniere Energy next month to supply

the country and neighbours Slovakia, Poland and Hungary, its CEO

told Reuters on Tuesday.

Maxim Timchenko said DTEK's trading arm is looking to sign a

10-to 20-year LNG deal, with the gas first being imported into

Ukrainian storage facilities and then piped westward.

"It's an active discussion of our trading arm - another

round of discussions and meetings will be taking place at (the)

CERAWeek (conference) in Houston, so they will be speaking not

only to Venture Global ( VG ) but to other big LNG suppliers. Cheniere,

for example," the CEO said, referring to the annual energy

conference that will take place in the week of March 10.

Venture Global ( VG ) did not respond to a request for comment.

Cheniere declined to comment.

The two companies are the largest producers of the

superchilled gas in the United States, and helped the country

become the largest exporter of LNG in the world.

Cheniere is continuing construction of its Stage 3

expansion at its Corpus Christi LNG facility in Texas, while

Venture Global ( VG ) is commissioning the first phase of its

Plaquemines LNG plant in Louisiana.

DTEK is also in discussions to offtake Qatari LNG, Timchenko

added.

Ukraine has been a net importer of natural gas from EU

countries as its gas production and storage facilities come

under heavy fire by Russian forces.

Timchenko said the country will likely import 1-2 billion

cubic meters from Europe this year, and acknowledged that

Russian attacks on Ukrainian gas storage infrastructure threaten

the business case for importing and reselling U.S. LNG.

When asked if DTEK was concerned about Venture Global's ( VG )

ability to reliably supply cargoes given legal challenges over

long-term contracts with major companies, Timchenko said "all

parties honored obligations" for a first cargo Venture Global ( VG )

delivered in December on what could become an initial two-year

agreement for between six and 12 LNG cargoes.