Ukraine signed on Thursday its first liquefied natural gas (LNG) deal with a U.S. company to help to avert an energy supply crunch amid a war with its bigger neighbour Russia.
DTEK Group, Ukraine's largest private energy company, said
it would buy LNG from U.S. energy group Venture Global. Under the agreement,
DTEK's trading unit D. Trading will buy cargoes from Venture Global's
Plaquemines LNG facility in Louisiana from later this year until the end of
2026.
D. Trading will also purchase up to 2 million tonnes per
year of LNG from Venture Global's third facility, Calcasieu Pass 2, for 20
years.
Ukraine currently has no regasification terminals for LNG
imports but DTEK has contracts for regasification capacity elsewhere in Europe
which have connecting pipelines with Ukraine. DTEK was not immediately
available for comment.
Earlier this year, Ukraine joined an initiative for a
planned corridor to carry gas between Greece and countries to its north and
Ukraine also has a pipeline link with Poland which has an LNG terminal.
Ukraine said on Thursday it needs more air defences within
weeks to allow repairs to the half of its power infrastructure destroyed by
Russian attacks, or it will not be able to meet demand in the winter.
Ukraine has previously said it will not extend a five-year
deal with Russia's Gazprom on the transit of Russian pipeline gas to Europe
when it expires at the end of the year and has been exploring options for
alternative supply.
Venture Global LNG's initial Calcasieu Pass plant has been
at the centre of a long-running dispute involving energy companies including BP
BP.L, Shell SHEL.L and others over access to LNG from the plant.
The disputes have not stopped it from signing LNG supply
deals, including a 20-year deal signed in June last year to provide Germany's
Securing Energy for Europe GmbH (SEFE) with 2.25 million tonnes per annum of
LNG.