Environment and Energy Minister Stavros Papastavrou met with Special Envoy for Energy Integration at the US Department of Energy Joshua Volz in Athens on Tuesday and discussed strengthening and upgrading Greece’s and Southeastern Europe’s energy security.
In a social media post, Papastavrou said the meeting followed the coordinated efforts undertaken over the past months – from the Transatlantic Gas Security Summit organized by the White House in February to the meetings held during CERAWeek2026 in Houston in March.
“We had the opportunity to discuss the positive developments in strengthening and upgrading the energy security of Greece and Southeastern Europe,” he said. As Papastavrou noted, “at the center of our discussion was the recent agreement among Transmission System Operators (TSO), which provides regulatory clarity at the European level and enhances the competitiveness of the Vertical Corridor, as well as the signing of the drilling contract between the ExxonMobil-Energean-Helleniq Energy consortium and Stena Drilling, which unlocks the first deepwater exploratory drilling in our country’s history.”
Greece and the US are “jointly building a strong strategic partnership in the energy sector,” he said, adding that the next shared milestone was Croatia and the Three Seas Initiative Summit.