European Union (EU) natural gas buyers and sellers found a match under the new AggregateEU platform launched by the European Commission (EC) for joint gas purchases.
The platform was created last year to help avoid the price hikes seen last summer in Europe and to reduce reliance on Russian pipeline imports.
Out of the total 11.6 billion cubic meters (Bcm) of demand registered by buyers on the platform,10.9 Bcm was tentatively matched by sellers. Twenty-five gas suppliers made offers in the first tender, according to EC Vice President Maros Sefcovic.
If a buyer and seller are matched, negotiations are taken outside the AggregateEU platform, but the match does not guarantee a completed deal.
“This is nothing short of a remarkable success,” Sefcovic said Tuesday. “Our overall goal is we do our utmost to make sure we would have adequate supplies of gas to prevent any shortages or scarcity. We were right to pool our demand.”
Out of the total 11.6 Bcm registered on the platform, about 2 Bcm of LNG was requested, and the rest would be delivered by pipeline. The majority of requests for pipeline deliveries are likely to be sourced from Algeria, Azerbaijan or Norway.
Countries that previously relied on Russia for most of their supplies, such as Bulgaria and Ukraine, met all their gas requests on the platform. Moldava met nearly 80%.
AggregateEU opened with a demand aggregation tender that ran from April 25 to May 2. With 110 companies registered, 77 companies submitted requests for gas supply.
The first tender covered gas deliveries from June 2023 until May 2024, with four more tenders to be held on a bi-monthly basis before the end of the year. The next tender is scheduled for the second half of June.
EU member countries have been mandated by the EU to pool demand on the platform for a minimum of 15% of their legal gas storage filling requirements, representing around 13.5 Bcm/year of demand, or just a fraction of the EU’s 400 Bcm of annual consumption.
International liquefied natural gas suppliers have been encouraged to participate on the platform. In February, Sefcovic met U.S. officials in Washington to discuss LNG supplies.
Small energy companies can use ‘“central buyers” or “agents” who would act as intermediaries for contracts and deliveries. Seven companies offer this service for different European supply countries, and 12 companies are offering logistics services for buyers, according to news media reports.
Although over 100 companies have registered, few have publicly confirmed their participation. Polish oil and gas company PKN Orlen, Czech energy company CEZ Group and Spain’s Cepsa are reportedly participating. German utility Securing Energy for Europe confirmed volumes were being requested via the platform.
Uniper has registered demand, but did not confirm any details. It remains unclear if any larger international buyers and sellers will participate.
