The EU today announced its first international tender for joint natural gas purchases, totaling approximately 11.6 billion cubic meters.

According to the European Commission’s announcement, the EU is harnessing its collective economic weight through the recently created AggregateEU ​​Energy Platform. In this first tender, 77 European companies submitted requests for a total gas demand of 11,625 bcm (billion cubic meters), which includes 2,781 bcm of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and 9,554 bcm of pipeline natural gas.

International gas suppliers, excluding Russia, are now invited to respond to this tender by submitting their bids by May 15. This first tender round will cover natural gas deliveries from June 2023 to May 2024.

Commission Vice-President Maros Šefković said: “With AggregateEU, we have created a new market in Europe, which will increase our energy security ahead of next winter and help fill our gas storages. This is also an opportunity for international gas suppliers to expand their customer base.”

The EU’s common gas market was introduced in response to the energy crisis caused by rising prices mainly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It is part of the EU’s efforts to phase out Russian gas supplies as soon as possible under the REPowerEU plan. The common gas market is open to all Member States and the EU Energy Community (Ukraine, Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro and Serbia).

According to the Commission, further tenders will follow the next demand aggregation exercises, scheduled for June, August, October and December 2023. So far, around 107 companies have registered to participate in joint gas purchases through AggregateEU.