EU’s demand aggregation platform matches 10.9 Bcm of gas supply to buyers

The EU’s joint gas purchasing and demand aggregation platform, AggregateEU, matched a total of 10.9 Bcm of gas supply and demand during its first round of tendering, European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic said May 16.

The tool, first proposed in April 2022 as part of the wider EU Energy Platform, held its first round of supply tendering over May 10-15, resulting in around 25 suppliers submitting offers for a total of 13.4 Bcm of gas, Sefcovic said.

The platform’s operator, Prisma, was subsequently tasked with matching supplier offers with customer demand, reporting a total of 10.9 Bcm of successfully matched gas purchases.

Some 80% of the total volume was attributed to pipeline flows, with LNG representing around 20%, according to Sefcovic.

Bids covered around 18 of the 21 virtual trading points under the mechanism, with both virtual LNG points — north and south – also covered.

“This is nothing short of a remarkable success. It shows that we were right to pool our demand, to use Europe’s collective pulling power, and to work together to fill our gas storages for next winter,” Sefcovic said.

“AggregateEU has become a new, dynamic marketplace for buyers and sellers of gas in Europe — designed to reinforce our energy security, as we phase out Russian gas, and fit for the needs of market operators in Europe.”
Next steps

Sefcovic confirmed that following the EC’s successful efforts to match gas demand with “reliable international suppliers”, contractual negotiations would now take place outside of the mechanism.

In the meantime, the EC will continue to facilitate the platform’s rolling tenders, due to take place every two months over the next 12-month period.

On May 17, the EC will publish the results of the matching process, marking the conclusive stage in a tender process that began on April 25.

In the second half of June, the EC will launch its second round of tendering for joint gas purchasing, with three more rounds to follow before the end of the year, Sefcovic said.

The Commission added that it plans to continue efforts to encourage greater market participation from international suppliers in the scheme, adding that AggregateEU offers “an opportunity for them to expand their customer base.”

Sefcovic also plans to host a virtual Steering Board next week, comprised of high-level representatives from member states, in addition to Energy Community countries in order to discuss the results and further steps, he said.

‘Vulnerable countries’

Sefcovic also said that more than 110 companies had subscribed to the platform, representing gas operators as well as industrial gas consumers.

The EC’s matching efforts in what it called the “most vulnerable countries”, namely Bulgaria, Ukraine and Moldova, were also successful in the first tender, he said, matching 100% of Ukraine’s requested demand and 80% of Moldovan demand.

The EC made demand aggregation mandatory, with EU member states required to allocate 15% of their 90% storage targets for the upcoming 2023-24 filling season through the platform.

Purchases of gas are set at a minimum of 5 GWh through national balancing point tenders and 300 GWh in LNG tenders, with both based on location and month, according to the Commission.

Alternatively, gas purchases can also take place via the mechanism’s twofold system of central buyers or agents-on-behalf, allowing for the pooling of demand, while prospective buyers will also be able to benefit from transport and logistics services through representative purchases.

As of May 16, a total of nine companies have offered central buyer services in Europe through AggregateEU, along with 14 companies signing up as agents-on-behalf, according to capacity platform provider Prisma.

The EC hopes the platform will enable aggregated buyers to achieve better prices after European gas prices spiked to record highs last summer.

Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, assessed the benchmark Dutch TTF month-ahead price at an all-time high of Eur319.98/MWh on Aug. 26.

Prices have weakened since then on the back of healthy storage levels throughout most of Europe and demand curtailments, with Platts assessing the TTF month-ahead price on May 15 at Eur32.025/MWh.
Source: Platts