On Tuesday 4 March, the European Commission announced that it would be launching the second round of “medium-term” tenders on 12 March to coordinate the joint purchase of gas through the AggregateEU mechanism (see EUROPE 13342/7).
European and Energy Community buyers can submit their applications for a five-year period from July 2025 to October 2030 in order to access “competitive offers from reliable international suppliers”, says the Commission in a press release.
Registration for buyers and sellers wishing to take part in this second call for tenders is open until 10 March on the PRISMA platform (the service provider). They must then submit their applications between 12 and 17 March. This application will then be submitted to potential suppliers for an expression of interest between 18 and 21 March.
The Commission will publish the results of the matching of supply and demand on 26 March, and the companies will then negotiate potential contracts bilaterally.
In addition, buyers and sellers can now, in addition to indicating a preferred terminal in the EU for the delivery of liquefied natural gas (LNG), indicate their preference for the “free-on-board” LNG pricing mechanism, for the delivery of LNG from the liquefaction facility to the ship.
The first “medium-term” tender attracted bids for a total volume of 97.4 billion m³ from international suppliers, almost triple the demand submitted by EU companies (see EUROPE 13356/10). (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)