US and Poland strike deal for LNG sales

AP:

Poland’s main gas company signed a long-term contract Thursday to receive deliveries of liquefied natural gas from the United States as part of a larger effort to reduce its energy dependence on Russia.

The state company PGNiG signed the 24-year deal with American supplier Cheniere during a ceremony in Warsaw attended by U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry and Polish President Andrzej Duda.

“This is a sign across Europe that this is how your energy security will be developed, your energy sources diversified,” Perry said before the deal was signed.

He and Polish Energy Minister Krzysztof Tchorzewski also signed an agreement to confirm long-term cooperation on energy security, which Perry said indicated America’s “pro-Poland and pro-Europe” approach to developing diverse sources of energy.

“We are prepared to be a competitive, reliable and transparent” partner, he said.

Perry is visiting several countries in central and eastern Europe to expand energy partnerships in the region, the U.S. Department of Energy said.
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The price for the gas is a 30 percent savings over what Poland is currently paying Russia for gas with the added benefit of getting from an ally rather than a potential adversary.  I think other central and eastern European countries could be customers for similar deals with the US.  It would certainly make strategic sense.

The Trump administration has been more willing to provide the LNG to European allies than the Obama administration which was still pushing inefficient and costly alternative energy projects which mainly benefited China.