The European Commission launched the first joint gas purchases, which will also benefit the Republic of Moldova
The European Commission announced on Wednesday the launch of the first joint gas purchases in the European Union, with a total aggregate demand of 11.6 billion cubic meters, according to the EFE agency. The new system was designed to give up Russian gas and is open to both EU and non-EU companies, including the Republic of Moldova.
The launch of the first joint gas purchase in the European Union, announced by the European Commission, has a total aggregate demand of 11.6 billion cubic meters, of which 2.8 billion cubic meters of liquefied natural gas delivered by ships and 9.6 billion of cubic meters of gas pumped through gas pipelines, reports the EFE agency.
Thus, the objective of the "AggregateEU" platform is to add demand and to negotiate together to make gas imports cheaper, in order to fill the warehouses for next winter, which, on May 8, were filled to 62.04% of capacity, compared to of 36.87% a year ago, after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
According to the vice-president of the European Commission for Interinstitutional Relations, Maros Sefcovic, the new concept will help the European industry to create commercial relations with new international suppliers, in the context of the EU's efforts to give up Russian gas" and "at the same time, it opens the opportunity for international suppliers to to expand its client portfolio". To date, 107 companies have registered on the platform and 77 have requested gas in the first tender which will be supplied between June 2023 and May 2024.
The new system, which leaves out Russian gas, obliges member states to add at least 15 percent of their demand to fill storage, or 13.5 billion cubic meters, although they are not required to buy gas. For now, the first tender has not reached this ceiling, but it is still open for new requests to certain countries outside the EU, such as the Republic of Moldova, Georgia, Serbia, Ukraine and others.
