San Diego-based Sempra announced Monday it will ship liquefied natural gas to Poland’s state-controlled energy company in another sign of rising interest in U.S. supply following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Buyers wary of importing natural gas from sanctions-hit Russia have been turning to U.S. gas in recent months as the war in Ukraine disrupts and already tight market.
The United States this year is expected to surpass Australia and Qatar as the world’s largest LNG exporter, delivering more than 12 billion cubic feet per day.
Sempra will provide PGNiG, which is based in Warsaw, with 3 million metric tons of LNG annually for 20 years under the deal.
About 2 million tons will come from Sempra’s Cameron LNG Phase 2 project in Louisiana, while the rest would come from the Port Arthur LNG project in Texas.
The liquefied gas will be shipped in special vessels to a floating storage and regasification unit which Poland plans to operate on the Baltic Sea near Gdansk.
LNG is one of the pillars of Polish plans to boost its energy security as it seeks full independence from Russian gas supplier Gazprom.
Gazprom halted shipments to Poland last month after Warsaw refused to switch to payment in roubles.
“We are determined to continue marching in this direction, that’s why we are acting to make sure we have access to adequate volumes of gas in the future,” PGNiG CEO Iwona Waksmundzka-Olejniczak said in a statement on Monday.
PGNiG’s LNG supply from U.S. suppliers currently stands at 318 billion cubic feet after regasification. The contract with Sempra would boost that by more than 40% to almost two-thirds of he Eastern European country’s needs.
Reuters contributed to this article.