The supply of liquefied natural gas from the United States might ensure greater competition in the European market, US Energy Secretary Rick Perry said in Lithuania on Sunday.

“The United States finds itself in a relatively new and unique position of being able to be a major importer, particularly of liquefied natural gas into Europe,” he told journalists in Vilnius after meeting with the Baltic counterparts.

“We hope that all the citizens of Europe recognize that we certainly look at this as a great opportunity to bring more freedom to the marketplace, more competition to the marketplace,” he added.

Perry also cited figures from the International Atomic Energy Agency, showing that the supply of US gas helped Europe save 8 billion US dollars last year.

Lithuania has also imported LNG from the United States via its terminal in Klaipėda.

Perry and the Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian ministers met ahead of an energy forum that starts on Monday and is attended by ministers or other government representatives from Central and Eastern European countries.

Lithuania's LNG terminal in Klaipėda / LRT TV

Perry said he would discuss with them “new sources of energy, new routes of energy, new supplies of energy, and it will also be about new technologies”.

Lithuanian Energy Minister Žygimantas Vaičiūnas called this meeting a new “page of cooperation between the Baltic states and the United States”.

In his words, political and technological support from the US is important for Lithuania as the country is reforming its gas market and synchronizing its power networks with those of Western Europe.

Such four-partied US-Baltic meetings will take place every year, Vaičiūnas said.

“Obviously, the more of the US we have in Europe, the more of the US we have in Europe's energy, the stronger we are,” the minister said.