The European Commission announced on Wednesday the start of the first joint purchase of gas in the EU with a total aggregate demand of 11.6 billion cubic meters, of which 2.8 billion cubic meters of liquefied natural gas delivered by ships and 9.6 billion cubic meters of gas pumped through gas pipelines, it is reported EFE and Agerpres agencies.

“I did what I promised in record time. The Commission has created this market from scratch, and companies have responded positively, and now we are launching our requests on the international market,” Maros Šefčovych, Vice President of the European Commission for Inter-Institutional Relations, said at a press conference.

The AggregateEU ​​platform aims to increase demand and jointly negotiate cheaper gas imports to fill warehouses for next winter, which are 62.04% full (as of May 8), compared to 36.87% a year ago, following the Russian invasion to Ukraine.

Brussels considers the system designed to cut off Russian gas and open to companies from the EU, as well as countries such as Ukraine, Serbia and the Republic of Moldova, a “historic milestone”.

A total of 107 companies registered on the new platform and 77 requested gas in this first auction (open until May 15), which will be delivered from June 2023 to May 2024.

The European Commission will organize similar auctions every two months with a system that “will be strengthened over time and durable” and that represents “a huge opportunity for both parties, for buyers and above all for sellers,” he stressed.

“This will help European industry, including the largest energy consumer, to establish new commercial relationships with new international suppliers in the context of the EU’s efforts to phase out Russian gas,” and “at the same time, it opens up an opportunity for international suppliers.” and expands the client portfolio,” he said.

Sefcovic emphasized that, in addition to large companies, joint procurement “offers new market opportunities to small and medium-sized companies, which can use this platform for free.”

“The EU is the most important customer of gas on a global scale,” the Slovak official said, adding that the Commission could not provide “any commercial information for the credibility of the process” but noted that “a surprising majority of member states” had received a positive response and invited other companies to sector to join the mechanism.

The new system, which excludes Russian gas and any Russian company, regardless of whether it is a supplier or a customer, obliges member countries to add at least 15% of their needs to fill the fields, i.e. 13.5 billion cubic meters, although are not obliged to buy gas.

The first auction has not yet reached this limit, but it is still open to new bids from both EU member states and some non-EU countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kosovo, Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, Republic of North Macedonia , Serbia and Ukraine).

The German company Prisma European Capacity Platform GmbH, which entered into an agreement with the European Commission at no cost to customers, will manage the auction to achieve competitive joint prices on the global market.

After this system receives bids from suppliers, interested companies will begin negotiations with suppliers. The system is mainly designed for the purchase of gas for up to 12 months.

In the case of LNG, buyers will be able to choose whether to have gas delivered to them in the north-west of the EU or in the south-west, even being able to specify the exact terminal. Applications will be accepted for a minimum of 300 GWh, which is about a third of the vessel’s capacity.

For piped gas, customers will be able to choose from 26 different supply points, and the minimum required capacity will be 5 GWh.

(Photo of the article: © Anatoly Fedotov | Dreamstime.com)