(BRUSSELS) – The European Commission invited ‘reliable international gas suppliers’ to submit offers Friday under the second EU joint gas purchasing tender, which runs from 7 July to 10 July.
It covers 15.92 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas deliveries requested by 49 companies for the period from August 2023 to March 2025. Almost half of this aggregated demand is for liquefied natural gas (LNG).
The aggregated demand from European companies in this second tender surpasses the 11.6 bcm requested during the first exercise, demonstrating the growing importance of the EU Energy platform for our energy security.
“With even higher levels of gas demand pooled together, it is clear that European companies are increasingly confident in the effectiveness of the EU Energy Platform to help them meet their needs,” said EC vice-president Vice-President Maros Sefcovic said: “It is fast becoming an established marketplace and an effective tool to tackle the energy crisis triggered by Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. I encourage reliable international suppliers to submit their offers and seize the opportunity to expand their customer base in the EU and the Energy Community.”
The joint EU purchasing of gas supports the REPowerEU Plan to diversify our energy supply away from Russia and strengthen security of supply ahead of next winter. It is enabled by AggregateEU, the EU mechanism allowing companies to aggregate gas demand and match it with competitive supply offers on the global market. The mechanism, with over 150 subscribed companies so far, is open to all EU Member States and the Contracting Parties of the Energy Community. Three further tenders will follow by the end of 2023.