A senior Trump administration adviser congratulated Greece for its role in advancing the Vertical Corridor and for energy agreements signed under the P-TEC framework, highlighting the projects as key to strengthening regional energy security and supporting Ukraine.
Jarred Agen, Executive Director of the US National Energy Dominance Council, made the remarks during a panel on energy geopolitics at the Munich Security Conference. He described energy as a “tool to achieve peace in Ukraine” and pointed to gas transport through the Vertical Corridor as part of the United States’ energy sovereignty agenda.
Agen publicly praised Greece’s Minister for Environment and Energy, Stavros Papastavrou, who attended the discussion. He said he preferred visiting LNG facilities to see imports arriving, rather than only discussing policy at conferences.
Agen said US officials travelled twice to Athens last year to meet energy ministers from Eastern and Central Europe to discuss agreements aimed at moving gas north from Greece towards Ukraine, as well as flows from Poland into Ukraine. He said the talks produced progress but called for further agreements.
He announced that the United States will host a Vertical Corridor meeting in Washington on 24 February to secure additional deals. Agen also said participating countries will meet again during CERAWeek in Houston from 23 to 27 March to continue negotiations.
Oleksiy Ryabchyn, Director of International Relations at Ukraine’s state gas company Naftogaz and a former Ukrainian MP and deputy energy minister, thanked the panel speakers for their support. He said Agen and his colleagues helped create a unified tariff structure for the Vertical Corridor, enabling Naftogaz to sign its first agreement with Greek counterparts. He added that LNG tankers were arriving to help Ukraine survive the winter.
The report also noted that on 30 January 2026, Atlantic See LNG Trade signed the first agreement for the sale of US LNG to Ukraine, with BP as supplier and Naftogaz as buyer. The first LNG cargo will arrive at the Revythousa terminal and will then be sent to Ukraine in March.
The quantities will move through Route 1 — Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, and Ukraine — with deliveries expected to reach up to 1 million MWh if gas network operators allocate greater capacity. The available capacity in the previous period stood at around 700,000 MWh.
The agreement accelerated the rollout of the Vertical Corridor, as it was signed in 2026 rather than 2030 as initially announced.
