American officials and companies finalized agreements worth billions of dollars with southeastern European nations on Tuesday, expanding Washington’s energy footprint in the region while supporting artificial intelligence initiatives.
The partnerships represent America’s strategy to strengthen relationships and challenge Russian energy dominance in southern Europe, building on last year’s long-term liquefied natural gas export arrangement with Greece.
“President Trump is opening a new era of cooperation with southern, and central and eastern Europe,” U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright told reporters at the Three Seas Initiative business forum in Dubrovnik, Croatia.
In Albania’s capital of Tirana, U.S. ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle formalized a $6 billion, two-decade contract between Venture Global and Aktor LNG USA for liquefied natural gas exports to Albania.
“This commitment strengthens energy security – and national security – across the entire region,” Guilfoyle said on X.
The Albanian agreement coincided with Wright’s endorsement of a partnership between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia to construct a natural gas pipeline. The infrastructure will transport American natural gas from Croatia’s Krk island LNG facility to Bosnia.
This pipeline initiative seeks to diversify Bosnia’s energy portfolio while decreasing dependence on Russian gas supplies. American firm AAFS Infrastructure and Energy LLC will finance and oversee the project, with leadership from Jesse Binnall, a former Trump attorney, and Joseph Flynn, brother of Trump’s previous national security adviser Michael Flynn.
AAFS has committed approximately 1.5 billion euros ($1.8 billion) to fund the pipeline construction.
Additionally, Croatia and the United States released a collaborative statement regarding civilian nuclear energy cooperation.
In a separate development, Croatian engineering firm Rade Koncar partnered with American investment group Pantheon Atlas LLC through a letter of intent for an artificial intelligence development and data center initiative in central Croatia, with an estimated value of 50 billion euros.
The proposed facility would feature 1 gigawatt of power capacity dedicated to AI computing and cloud services, with construction potentially beginning in 2027 and operations launching by 2029, pending necessary permits and electrical grid improvements.
