The Trump administration has been pushing the EU to buy more gas from the United States to balance overall trade.
Italian energy company Eni has inked an agreement to buy liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States, the company said in a July 16 statement.
“Eni will purchase 2 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) for 20 years with offtake starting by the end of the decade,” the company said.
LNG will be supplied from phase 1 of Virginia-based Venture Global’s CP2 LNG terminal facility.
“The facility, with a peak production capacity of 28 MTPA, is currently under development in Cameron Parish, Louisiana,” the company said.
“The agreement is Eni’s first long term LNG supply from the United States and represents a significant milestone in Eni’s strategy to expand and diversify its global LNG footprint.”
According to a July 16 statement from Venture, CP2 LNG is the company’s third project, with phase 1 having already resulted in sales of roughly 13.5 MTPA of LNG.
“Italy is an important ally and trading partner to the United States, and we are grateful for the trust of Eni as our newest customer,” said Venture Global CEO Mike Sabel.
Meanwhile, Venture also recently entered into an agreement with Germany-based Securing Energy for Europe GmbH (SEFE), according to a July 9 statement.
Under the deal, the two entities will amend an existing sales and purchase agreement signed in 2023. The update involves Venture supplying an additional 0.75 MTPA of LNG from CP2 LNG to SEFE’s subsidiary.
In April, President Donald Trump said the EU needs to buy billions of dollars worth of gas from the United States as part of balancing trade between the two regions.
“The European Union’s been really tough over the years. We have a [trade] deficit with the European Union of $350 billion, and it’s going to disappear fast,” he said at the time.
“And one of the ways that that can disappear easily and quickly is they’re going to have to buy our energy from us. … They can buy it, we can knock off $350 billion in one week.”
