The executive director of the US National Energy Sovereignty Council, Jarred Agen, yesterday during his presentation at the energy geopolitics panel at the Munich Security Conference referenced Greece, the energy agreements signed at P-TEC, and the importance of the Vertical Corridor.
Specifically, President Donald Trump’s advisor characterized energy as a “tool for achieving peace in Ukraine,” citing the Vertical Corridor and natural gas transportation through it as part of the US energy sovereignty agenda. He even congratulated the Minister of Environment and Energy, Stavros Papastavrou, who was watching the discussion at that moment.
Trump administration congratulations at Munich Security Conference – “Special kudos to the Greek Energy Minister”
“And that’s exactly what I was talking about, how this president has used energy as a diplomatic tool like never before. And I want to give special kudos to the Greek Energy Minister who is here in the front row. I mean, as much as I like coming to these conferences and talking about these issues, I much prefer going to an LNG facility and seeing imports arrive.”
P-TEC
Continuing, referring to P-TEC, he emphasized that “we made two trips to Athens last year. We had all the Energy Ministers from Eastern and Central Europe, specifically to talk about agreements and about how we will make natural gas flow from Greece upward, to Ukraine, and from Poland to Ukraine. And so, after that, we had an excellent conference at the end of last year, but it wasn’t enough. We need more.”
He concluded with the Vertical Corridor meeting to be organized on February 24 in Washington. “In two weeks, in February, we will bring everyone (i.e., the Ministers) back to the US, to achieve more agreements to make the Vertical Corridor a reality.”
Finally, he announced the next date that the Vertical Corridor countries will have “circled,” saying that “we will all gather in Houston, during CERAWeek (March 23-27 in Houston), and we will achieve more agreements there too. And so, it’s about a relentless pursuit of agreements.” Finally, the intervention of the Director of International Relations of the Ukrainian natural gas company NAFTOGAZ and former MP and Deputy Energy Minister of Ukraine, Oleksiy Ryabchyn, made a particular impression, as he thanked the panel speakers for their substantial help to his country and referenced the Naftogaz agreement with the AKTOR-DEPA consortium, saying that “Jarred Agen and his colleagues helped so that the vertical corridor tariffs acquired a unified structural coherence, and thus we made our first agreement with our Greek counterparts, and LNG tankers are also coming to help us survive this winter.”
The first US LNG sale agreement to Ukraine from ATLANTIC SEE LNG TRADE
It should be noted that on Friday, January 30, 2026, the first US LNG sale agreement to Ukraine was signed by ATLANTIC SEE LNG TRADE, with BP as supplier and Ukrainian Naftogaz as buyer. The first LNG cargo arriving at Revithoussa will be sent to Ukraine next March, in just a few weeks. The quantities to be delivered will be transported to Ukraine via Route 1 (Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, Ukraine), with a maximum quantity of 1 million MWh (1TWh), provided that natural gas network operators allocate greater capacity, which previously ranged around 700,000 MWh (0.7 TWh).
Indeed, the first commercial agreement for the supply and sale of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the US was already signed in 2026 – and not from 2030, as initially announced, thus accelerating the implementation of the Vertical Corridor.
