On Thursday 22 February, the Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, Maroš Šefčovič, welcomed the initial response from companies to the launch of a new ‘mid-termtender’ aimed at transforming the joint gas purchase aggregation mechanism, via AggregateEU, into a permanent instrument (see EUROPE 13342/7) and invited international suppliers to submit their bids.
A total of 19 companies submitted applications for a volume of almost 34 billion cubic metres of gas, of which more than 15.3 billion cubic metres represented demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG) and more than 18.3 billion cubic metres for delivery by pipeline.
“This clearly shows that the joint purchase of gas is going from strength to strength”, explained the vice-president in a written statement. “Indeed, AggregateEU will now become a permanent fixture in our new gas market regulation, building on its success as a crisis management tool last year”, he said.
He pointed out that in 2023, four short-term calls for tender were organised, which enabled 42 billion cubic metres of gas in overall European demand to be matched with suppliers considered reliable.
“This has calmed markets and diversified purchasing options for European consumers by leveraging our collective economic weight”, he said.
Mr Šefčovič is now inviting all reliable international suppliers to participate in the first tender for this medium-term product, until 26 February, by submitting their bids. (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)