European Commission Schedules New Round of Coordinated Gas Deals

The European Commission has announced a second midterm round for AggregateEU, a mechanism where international natural gas suppliers compete to book demand offered by companies in the EU and its Energy Community partner countries.

In the new round buyers can express their demand for July 2025-October 2030. Buyers and sellers have until March 10 to register on the online portal of the AggregateEU service provider, PRISMA. Demand submission is scheduled for March 12-17. Vendors must file expressions of interest from March 18 to 21.

The Commission will publish matchmaking results March 26, after which buyers and sellers bilaterally negotiate contracts.

“This mid-term matching round reinforces the Commission’s continued commitment to the phase-out of Russian gas supplies to the EU”, the Commission’s Directorate-General for Energy said in an online statement.

The first midterm round pooled a total of 34 billion cubic meters (1.1 trillion cubic feet) of demand from 19 companies including industrial players. Meanwhile offers totaled 97.4 billion cubic meters, almost triple the demand, according to the Commission.

Aggregate EU was initially only meant for the 2023-24 winter season but the EU, citing lessons from the prolonged effects of the energy crisis, has made it a permanent mechanism under “Regulation (EU) 2024/1789 on the internal markets for renewable gas, natural gas and hydrogen”, adopted June 13, 2024.

“In previous matching rounds, buyers and sellers could indicate a preferred terminal in the EU for the delivery of liquified natural gas”, the Directorate said when announcing the new midterm round. “To better reflect LNG trade practices and attract additional international suppliers, buyers and sellers can also indicate their preference to have the LNG delivered free-on-board”.

Midterm rounds offer six-month contracts for potential suppliers during a buyer-seller partnership of up to five years.

“In early 2024, with the effects of the energy crisis still not over, AggregateEU is introducing a different concept of mid-term tenders in order to address the growing demand for stability and predictability from buyers and sellers of natural gas”, the Directorate said February 1, 2024, announcing the first midterm tender.

“Under such tenders, buyers will be able to submit their demand for seasonal 6-month periods (for a minimum 1,800,000 MWh for LNG and 30,000 for NBP per period), going from April 2024 to October 2029. This is intended to support sellers in identifying buyers who might be interested in a longer trading partnership - i.e. up to 5 years.

“Mid-term tenders will not only increase security of supply but also help European industrial players increase their competitiveness”.

NBP gas, or National Balancing Point gas, refers to gas from the national transmission systems of EU states.

AggregateEU, created under Council Regulation 2022/2576 of December 19, 2022, is part of the broader EU Energy Platform for coordinated purchases of gas and hydrogen. The Energy Platform was formed 2022 as part of the REPowerEU strategy for achieving energy independence from Russia in the aftermath of its invasion of Ukraine.

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