ATHENS, Sept 11 (Reuters) - The United States wants to

expand its energy ties with Greece, U.S. Interior Secretary Doug

Burgum said during a visit to Athens on Thursday, as the Trump

administration works to further reduce Russia's oil and

gas supplies to Europe.

Burgum has been in Europe this week aiming to seal energy supply

deals, which the U.S. hopes will strengthen its influence in the

region while weakening Russia's.

On Wednesday, Greece announced that a consortium including

oil major Chevron ( CVX ) had bid to explore for natural gas in

its waters.

"The Trump administration has a couple of goals around

energy and one of those is energy abundance, so energy to our

friends and our allies so they do not have to buy from our

adversaries," Burgum told Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis

during a meeting in Athens.

A ban on seaborne Russian crude oil has cut the EU's Russian

oil imports by 90%, but Hungary and Slovakia still import via a

pipeline. Europe is expected to purchase about 13% of its gas

from Russia this year, though that is down from 45% before

Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, EU data shows.

The U.S. has pressured the EU to accelerate the phase out

Russian fossil fuels to reduce funds for Moscow's war chest.

Part of that push is to offer more of its abundance of shale gas

and oil reserves in export deals.

Greece's imports of U.S. liquefied natural gas increased by

95% in the first half of this year.

A controversial maritime deal signed in 2019 has strained

Greece's relations with Libya and Turkey. However, some of the

blocks in which Chevron ( CVX ) is interested are offshore Crete near

one of the disputed areas.

Greece has taken that as tacit U.S. support for its maritime

boundaries.

"It's a very interesting coincidence that you come a day

after Chevron ( CVX ) officially submits interest to start exploratory

work in areas south of Crete, confirming the sovereign rights of

the Hellenic Republic in that area," Mitsotakis told Burgum.