Security of gas supplies – Photo EC
(BRUSSELS) – The EU Commission launched an international tender for joint purchasing of EU gas supplies Wednesday, leveraging the EU’s collective economic weight through its ‘AggregateEU’ mechanism.
In this first tender, 77 European companies have submitted requests for a total volume of 11.6 billion cubic metres of gas demand. LNG demand represents 2.7 bcm, while 8.9 bcm is requested for delivery via pipeline.
International gas suppliers, excluding Russia, are now invited to respond to this tender by submitting their bids to serve these European customers by 15 May. This first tendering round covers gas deliveries from June 2023 until May 2024.
“With AggregateEU, we have created a new marketplace in Europe, which will increase our energy security ahead of the next winter and help fill our gas storages,” said EC vice-president Vice-President Maros Sefcovic: ” This is also an opportunity for international gas suppliers to expand their customers’ base. This is a win-win exercise.”
Joint EU purchasing of gas has been introduced in response to the energy crisis triggered by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It is part of the EU’s efforts to phase out our supplies of Russian gas as soon as possible, under the REPowerEU Plan. It is open to all Member States and the EU Energy Community.
Further tenders will follow the next demand aggregation exercises, scheduled in June, August, October and December 2023. So far, some 107 companies have subscribed to participate in joint gas purchasing via the AggregateEU instrument.
