Photo Naftogaz of Ukraine
(BRUSSELS) – The EU attracted bids from 25 supplying companies equivalent to more than 13.4 billion cubic meters of gas (bcm) Tuesday, in the first-ever international tender for joint purchasing of EU gas supplies.
The international suppliers have already been matched with the European customers on AggregateEU by service provider PRISMA, amounting to an overall volume of 10.9 bcm. This covers 8.7 bcm of gas via pipeline and 2.2 bcm of LNG.
EU companies will now be able to negotiate the terms of the supply contracts directly with the supplying companies, with no involvement of the Commission.
EC vice-president Vice-President Maros Sefcovic hailed the international tender for joint purchasing of EU gas supplies as a “remarkable success”, which “shows that we were right to pool our demand, to use Europe’s collective pulling power, and to work together to fill our gas storages for next winter.”
EU companies will now be able to negotiate the terms of the supply contracts directly with the supplying companies, with no involvement of the Commission.
This exercise is expected to give support to EU Member States’ efforts to meet their gas storage obligations for next winter, while strengthening our collective energy security at competitive prices. Further tenders will follow every two months until the end of year. The next tendering round is expected to be launched in the second half of June.
Demand aggregation and joint purchasing is a flagship initiative under the EU Energy Platform, which was created to work on the diversification of EU gas supplies after Russia invaded Ukraine and Europe collectively decided to end its dependence on Russian fossil fuel imports.
