Energy

US Will Ship Gas To Poland For Next 24 Years

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Poland’s state-owned gas company signed a 24-year deal with Texas-based gas supplier Cheniere on Thursday to receive regular deliveries of fuel, The Associated Press reports.

Poland signed the deal to decrease its energy dependence on Russia. U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry and Polish President Andrzej Duda attended the signing ceremony in Warsaw.

“This is a sign across Europe that this is how your energy security will be developed, your energy sources diversified,” Perry said at the ceremony, according to the AP.

While the deal’s value was not disclosed, Polish gas company PGNiG will receive shipments of liquified natural gas from the U.S. at roughly 25 percent less cost than what it is currently paying Russia, Piotr Wozniak, the president of PGNiG’s management board, told the AP.

Under the deal, exports will start in 2019 and last through 2042, totaling nearly 40 billion cubic meters of natural gas. Poland consumes roughly 16 billion cubic meters annually and supplies around a quarter of that demand through its own deposits.

President Donald Trump has promoted U.S. natural gas to European countries to lessen their dependence on Russia, which has historically used its vast energy reserves as leverage against other countries.

Trump met with Duda in the White House on Sept. 18 to discuss energy issues and potential agreements between the two countries.

“The United States and Poland are deeply committed to energy diversity all across Europe. No nation should be dependent on a single foreign supplier of energy,” Trump said at the meeting, taking a swipe at Russia. “Soon, our nations will launch a high-level diplomatic exchange on energy security. And Mr. President, we are now — as a few months ago — the largest producer of energy in the world. So that’s a big statement.”

Poland began receiving exports of U.S. natural gas in 2017.

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