EU Energy Platform: Commission invites international suppliers to respond to first EU tender for 11.6bcm of joint gas purchases

Today, the Commission has launched the first-ever international tender for joint purchasing of EU gas supplies, leveraging the EU’s collective economic weight through the recently-created AggregateEU mechanism. In this first tender, 77 European companies have submitted requests for a total volume of 11.625 billion cubic metres of gas demand. LNG demand represents 2.781 bcm, while 9.554 bcm is requested for delivery via pipeline.

International gas suppliers, excluding Russia, are now invited to respond to this tender by submitting their bids to serve these European customers by 15 May. This first tendering round covers gas deliveries from June 2023 until May 2024.

Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič said today: “With AggregateEU, we have created a new marketplace in Europe, which will increase our energy security ahead of the next winter and help fill our gas storages. This is also an opportunity for international gas suppliers to expand their customers’ base. This is a win-win exercise.”

Joint EU purchasing of gas has been introduced in response to the energy crisis triggered by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It is part of the EU’s efforts to phase out our supplies of Russian gas as soon as possible, under the REPowerEU Plan. It is open to all Member States and the EU Energy Community. Further tenders will follow the next demand aggregation exercises, scheduled in June, August, October and December 2023. So far, some 107 companies have subscribed to participate in joint gas purchasing via the AggregateEU instrument.