According to the Azerbaijani daily haggin.az, a deal was signed in Athens on 16 November between Ukraine’s Naftohaz Ukrayiny and a new company Atlantic-See LNG Trade created by Greek Aktor Group and DEPA. Under the agreement, the Greek side is obliged to supply US liquefied gas to Ukraine via a “vertical corridor” through Bulgaria and Romania from December 2025 to March 2026.
At the same time, sources in the Greek government told the publication that the U.S. side vetoed the supply of Azerbaijani gas through the same route. The fact is that the “blue fuel” from Azerbaijan, coming to Greece through the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), is cheaper than American LNG, and the U.S. is concerned about competition. Washington is seeking an exclusive right to supply gas to Ukraine via Greece.
As haggin.az notes, according to the US demand, the contract between Atlantic-See LNG Trade and Naftogaz stipulates that the supply of Azerbaijani gas through the “vertical corridor” is possible only in force majeure circumstances. That is, if for some reason the shipment of American LNG to Atlantic-See LNG Trade is delayed (which cannot be ruled out) or technical problems arise, then the Greek company will be able to use Azerbaijani gas supplied via TAP and at the disposal of DEPA to fulfill its obligations to Naftogaz.
This U.S. position raises many questions, says the Azerbaijani edition. After all, the new cross-border route (“Route-3”) of the “vertical corridor” was developed specifically for gas supplies from Azerbaijan not only to Ukraine, but also to Bulgaria and Moldova. It is still unclear what will happen to these supplies. Bulgaria already receives 1 bcm of gas from Azerbaijan via Greece via this route, while Moldova is seriously counting on the “vertical corridor” as one of the main routes for diversifying supplies.
