Ukraine Receives First Shipment of US LNG
Ukraine on Friday received its first batch of liquefied natural gas from the US, a deal that Kyiv says will boost Ukrainian and European energy security as a major gas transit deal with Russia ends.
Despite the war, Moscow has continued to pump gas across Ukraine to Europe under a multi-billion euro deal, an agreement Kyiv has long said it will not renew when it expires at the end of 2024.
“DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private energy company, has today taken delivery of its first cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States,” the company said in a press release yesterday.
The company confirmed to AFP that the consignment of approximately 100 million cubic meters of gas was the first US shipment to Ukraine, which has been battered by Russian attacks on its energy grid throughout the near three-year war.
DTEK obtained the shipment via pipeline with the LNG delivered to a Greek regasification terminal in the Mediterranean on Friday.
“Cargoes like this are not only providing the region with a flexible and secure source of power, but are further eroding Russia’s influence over our energy system,” DTEK CEO Maxim Timchenko said in the press release.
After major Russian attacks, Ukraine has frequently increased its emergency imports of electricity from neighboring EU countries. Kyiv says securing direct supplies of LNG from the United States will help relieve some pressure on the European gas market.
The European Union has been unable to completely cut its energy link with Moscow, despite also ramping up purchases of LNG since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Several officials including EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen have suggested increasing the supply of gas from the United States as a substitute to Russian energy.
Simultaneously, US-president elect Donald Trump has threatened Europe with tariffs if it does not buy more US gas.
“I told the European Union that they must make up their tremendous deficit with the United States by the large scale purchase of our oil and gas. Otherwise, it is TARIFFS all the way!!!,” he said on social media earlier this month.
Source: AFP