bp has signed a 10-year liquefied natural gas (LNG) sales and purchase agreement with Austria's OMV Group.

The contract, announced today (July 28) ^, will see bp supply OMV with 1 million tonnes of LNG a year for 10 years from 2026.

The LNG supplied by BP will be received and regasified via the Gate LNG terminal in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, or other European terminals.

Jonty Shepard, bp's vice president of global LNG trading and origination, pointed out that LNG is an important part of the energy transition and is critical to bp's transformation into an integrated energy company.

He continued: "Europe is an important LNG market and this agreement with OMV further demonstrates our LNG supply capabilities in the region and supports the security of supply for our European customers."

Alfred Stern, chairman and chief executive of OMV's executive board, said the agreement with bp reflected the company's contribution to the security of supply for European customers.

Stern added: "One of OMV's main priorities is to drive our ongoing diversification of supply sources, which includes gas from our own production and external sources from Norway, as well as additional volumes of liquefied natural gas."

Ensuring that all EU countries have access to the LNG market is a key objective of the EU Energy Union Strategy. European countries with LNG import terminals and LNG markets are now in a better position to deal with possible supply disruptions than those relying on a single gas supplier, the European Commission said.

Since the end of 2021, due to the special situation of the natural gas market and the need for gas storage replenishment, the EU's total monthly LNG imports have increased significantly.

From the beginning of 2022, the EU has imported 98 billion cubic meters of LNG. This is 39 billion cubic meters more than the same period in 2021. Imports into the EU in the January-September 2022 period exceed those in the entire record year (2019).