The European Comission announces the second purchase auction gas joint ventures by June 26, including Ukraine, Moldova and Serbia. After the success of the first auction, which exceeded expectations by receiving an offer of 18.7 billion cubic meters, exceeding the demand of 11.6 billion from European companies, the EU continues to strengthen its efforts in this area.
Once the volume of the new aggregate demand is registered at the end of June, the suppliers will be able to present offers of the Friday, July 7 to Monday, July 10while in that same week the results of the compatibilities between demand and supply will be published, as reported this Wednesday at a press conference by the commissioner for Inter-institutional Relations, Maros Sefcovic.
The purchases will be made through the ‘AggregateEU’ mechanism, created ‘ad hoc’ to match the aggregate demand for gas from EU companies with the supply offers from suppliers around the world in order to increase security energy supply and deal with the rise in gas prices after Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
Waiting for more agreements to be signed
Faced with the previous scenario, the platform will match the demand of the applicants with the offers of the providers, which will be allowed negotiate the terms of supply and delivery contracts and in which the Commission will play no role.
“The platform works well and produces concrete results: I am pleased to report that the first contracts have already been signed and I am sure that they will will sign more agreementssince many contracts are being negotiated after the matching of supply and demand”, the commissioner stated.
Sefcovic has highlighted that the first call was a “success that exceeded expectations”, although it has also served to draw lessons and introduce some improvements to further facilitate industry participation and increase the efficiency of joint purchasing.
new gas market
Now, prospective buyers will be able to present their gas demand for supply between August 2023 and March 2025 and the purchasing guidelines of some energy-intensive industries that purchase gas for longer periods will be adapted.
“The important thing between now and June 26 is that more potential users, particularly from the industries of high energy consumption, subscribe to the platform and use this new gas market”, encouraged the commissioner, who will continue his contacts with industrial agents, both on the supply and demand sides.
Likewise, it has informed that, also with this objective, on June 20 it will hold a meeting with reliable international gas suppliers. “Given the positive answer of the market and the broad political support, the joint purchase should continue”, he added, to emphasize that this “could serve as a model for other products, such as hydrogen and critical raw materials, in the long term”.
