A Greek-American joint venture is being prepared in the domain of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and will likely be announced during US Secretary of State John Kerry’s visit to Athens next month.

Kerry dropped a hint about the plan during his meeting with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in the United States at the end of September, referring to the prospect of northern Greece evolving into an energy hub with the construction of an LNG terminal. This is based on the utilization of the licensed plan (since 2011) for the installation of an LNG terminal at Alexandroupoli by Gastrade (controlled by the Copelouzos Group), which is on the list of the European Commission’s priority projects.

The utilization and management of that LNG terminal will take place through a consortium involving Gastrade, the Public Gas Corporation and a US company named Cheniere Energy. This will be the first American firm to export LNG from shale gas at the start of 2015 and it has already signed contracts with major European enterprises. From the Alexandroupoli terminal, the LNG will head to Bulgaria via the IGB Pipeline and then on to Central and Eastern Europe.