Big business on three axes builds Greece-USA in Washington

Summary

Three strategic sectors, natural gas, data centers, and the port-shipbuilding industry, are set to dominate Greece-US talks in the coming days, foreshadowing big business deals aimed at creating a unified and powerful front of Western interests in the wider region, away from the sphere of influence of Russia and China.

On the table for the first sector, namely the Greece-Ukraine Vertical Corridor, all eyes are on the discussions that will take place at the two-day meeting in Washington (Tuesday and Wednesday, February 23-24) the head of the large Greek delegation, Energy Minister Stavros Papastavrou, Aktor CEO Alexandros Exarchou, DEPA head Konstantinos Xifaras, and the leaders of DESFA and Gastrade. Certainly, the announcements of new long-term LNG (liquefied natural gas) contracts, as pre-announced by Mr. Papastavrou, will be of great interest.

Certainly, announcements of new long-term LNG (liquefied natural gas) contracts, as previously announced by Mr. Exarchou, or even for US financing for a second FSRU (floating storage and regasification unit) in Greece, will be very important news.

What is changing now

However, the challenge is to create a roadmap for the major changes that need to be made in terms of costs and regulations, so that the Vertical Corridor can actually move forward and not remain just another geopolitical narrative. The role of the Commission, which will be present at the meeting, is crucial here.

The second area concerns the presence of PPC CEO George Stassis in the US capital on the same days, in order to participate, according to information, in a conference on "transatlantic cooperation on natural gas," while also having meetings related to the large investment in the AI giga factory that the group is promoting in Western Macedonia, estimated at €2.3 billion.

The impression that the Greek group's negotiations with major American hyperscalers - dominated by Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Meta, Oracle, and OpenAI —is reinforced by information that talks are also being held at the political level, as shown by the recent discussion on the subject between the prime minister and Michael Kratsios, head of President Trump's technology team.

As for the participation of the head of PPCin the natural gas conference, it remains to be seen whether this is linked to the group's increased interest in American LNG, especially at a time when it is upgrading its old plants ("Ptolemaida V") and plans to build new ones in Bulgaria and Romania.

A few weeks ago, however, French company Total's tanker "Brussels" unloaded 1 TWh at the Alexandroupolis FSRU on behalf of the company, with the aim of covering its own natural gas needs.

In the third chapter, that of the port-shipbuilding industry, the day is approaching in March, when the Superfund will announce a tender for the development of the new port of Elefsina with the aim of creating infrastructure that will rival Piraeus, which is controlled by Cosco. The issue was raised again last week by the US ambassador to Athens, Kimberly Gilfoile.

It is rumored that large business groups with a strong presence in the recent round of Greek-American energy contacts will participate in the tender, ONEX Shipyards, owner of the Elefsina and Syros shipyards—its CEO, Panos Xenokostas, will be present at the meetings in Washington—as well as players such as Goldair. The entry of the US International Development Finance Corporation ( DFC ) into one of the potential schemes – it will also be present at the White House table – is considered highly likely.

In the US capital, ONEX is expected to sign an important agreement on Wednesday with South Korea's Hanwha Power Systems, one of the country's largest groups with a strong presence in the US market, having acquired Philly Shipyard in 2024.

The agreement, which is part of the US strategic plan to rebuild and strengthen the domestic shipbuilding and shipping industry, will concern the construction of ships in the US. The focus is said to be on LNG carriers, among other things , as well as floating LNG terminals, i.e. FSRUs.

The Vertical Corridor challenge

The No. 1 topic of the meetings, which is American natural gas, Trump's recent intervention during the reception of the new Greek ambassador to the US, Antonis Alexandridis, and his reference to the Vertical Corridor not only sets the tone for Tuesday's meeting, but also puts pressure on all parties to achieve results.

Judging by the presence of Aktor CEO Alexander Exarchos and DEPA CEO Konstantinos Xifaras, who, through the joint venture Atlantic See LNG, have signed a 20-year contract with Venture Global to supply American LNG through the Vertical Corridor, announcements of new agreements with customers from Central and Eastern Europe are considered a given.

We will probably also have news regarding possible US financing for the second FSRU in Thrace, amounting to €600-650 million, promoted by Gastrade, which -according to company sources- is already under scrutiny by US banks DFC and Exim.

However, however, remains whether a roadmap will be drawn up with the interventions that need to be made so that the Vertical Corridor can actually function as an LNG"fast lane"from the Aegean to Ukraine, instead of a sum of many different infrastructures, each with different tariffs and different tax and regulatory regimes.

This is because, in order to secure deals, such as many new and long-term LNG contracts with "locked-in" customers, as well as a second floating terminal (FSRU) in the Aegean, capital is needed, and those who will put up the money, i.e., investors and banks, need to see concrete decisions on the South-North axis on the table that will convince them that it has solved its many "teething problems."

As long as the Vertical Corridor remains uncompetitive compared to other routes to Ukraine, such as via Poland, the target of importing 15-16 bcm of American LNG (billion cubic meters — unit of measurement for annual natural gas flows) i.e. the volume of Russian gas currently traded in the region — plus an additional 17 bcm that is said to be required for the development of the wider neighborhood countries by the end of the decade.

Yes, on the eve of the White House meeting, i.e. tomorrow's auction on Monday concerning capacity commitments through the Vertical Corridor for March, Atlantic See LNG is expected to save the day, as it has committed to sending the first batch of US LNG to Ukraine's Naftogaz, but the problem remains.

This was demonstrated by the tour of Brussels envoy Klaus-Dieter Borchardt to the countries of the Vertical Corridor - with his first stop last week in Athens - to gather opinions from those involved in order to then submit his final recommendation to Brussels.

What the EU official is said to have conveyed to the Greek side (Ministry of Environment and Energy, Regulatory Authority for Energy, DESFA) do not seem to indicate that Brussels has lifted its reservations about the Vertical Corridor, which, although it has been included in the EU's Priority Energy Corridors, they still consider the products transported through it to be incompatible with the EU framework.

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