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The European Commission has opened a new window for companies in the region to register gas purchase volumes to be potentially supplied by international vendors.
This is the fourth round of the AggregateEU service, under which the 27-member bloc can pool demand, negotiate with international suppliers and coordinate collective purchases.
The last round matched 11.86 billion cubic meters (418.83 billion cubic feet) of pooled demand with offers from suppliers.
For the fourth round buyers have until this Tuesday to submit their demand, which will be put out for bidding by suppliers on December 4 and 5. Delivery is scheduled between January 2024 and March 2025.
“As we begin the heating season for most of Europe, the EU Energy Platform continues to contribute to our efforts to keep everybody warm this winter and keep energy at affordable prices, for citizens and European industry”, EU Executive Vice-President for the European Green Deal Maros Sefcovic said in a press release.
AggregateEU, created under Council Regulation 2022/2576 of December 19, 2022, is part of the broader EU Energy Platform for coordinated purchases of gas, liquefied natural gas and hydrogen. The Energy Platform was formed last year as part of the REPowerEU strategy for achieving energy independence from Russia.
“The EU Energy Platform is a success story in terms of our collective response to last year’s energy crisis, and it continues to serve us today”, Sefcovic added.
The third round saw a record aggregated demand of 6.49 billion cubic meters (582.33 billion cubic feet), from 39 companies in the EU. The volume offered by suppliers, 18.1 billion cubic meters (639.2 billion cubic feet), exceeded the pooled demand, according to results announced October 6.
The first two rounds pooled 27.5 billion cubic meters (971.15 billion cubic feet) of demand, 22.9 billion cubic meters (808.71 billion cubic feet) of which saw offers “by reliable suppliers”, the EU Directorate-General of Energy said in a news release September 21 announcing the opening of the third round.
In announcing the third round results, Sefcovic called on the EU to look at establishing mechanisms for the joint purchase of other strategic commodities such as clean energy and raw materials. “We must build on the success of the Platform, recognizing the added-value of the joint purchase for the EU’s open strategic autonomy, competitiveness of Europe’s economy and its green and digital transition”, he said, according to a transcript on the commission’s website. “This is key to ensuring we can meet the growing demand for hydrogen, a key resource for facilitating the decarbonization of European industry and therefore crucial to our target of climate neutrality by 2050”.
To contact the author, email jov.onsat@rigzone.com
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