The EU wants to expand the joint procurement scheme for hydrogen and other critical goods
The European Union wants to expand the joint procurement scheme, which currently works for gas purchases, to other critical goods for the bloc, after successful bidding in the first round of the scheme.
He writes about it Financial Times.
It is noted that several leading energy companies participated in the first round of joint gas purchases, which satisfied the demand for 10.9 billion cubic meters. This is over 80% of the 13.5 billion cubic meters planned for the end of the year.
Among the participants were the French company Engie, the Norwegian state-owned company Equinor and the Swiss Axpo, as well as the French TotalEnergies. In addition, Ukrainian Naftogaz joined the round as a gas buyer. Other companies, such as Italy’s Eni, have said they plan to participate in the next round of tenders.
The European Commissioner responsible for the gas platform, Maros Šefčovych, called this result a “significant success”, despite the fact that the volume of gas put up for auction is only a small part of the total consumption in the EU. According to the International Energy Agency, last year it amounted to 360 billion cubic meters. Before the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into Ukraine, more than 40% of this volume came from Russia.
“We were very impressed by the aggregate demand even in the first round, and especially by the fact that as a result we received an excess of the offered gas,” – noted Šefčovych. In total, suppliers offered 18.7 billion cubic meters of gas, but not all of them found buyers due to contract conditions or pricing issues. According to him, 110 buyers of energy resources took part in purchases.
Now the EU is preparing to expand joint purchases to other critical goods. For example, hydrogen or mineral resources, which are critically important for green technologies – in wind and solar energy or battery production.
Šefčovych said that the gas scheme will be a project for a “new market” of critical materials, as well as hydrogen, which will help decarbonize energy-intensive industries. According to him, several companies from the Middle East have already expressed interest in supplying hydrogen.
This year, the EU will hold four more rounds of joint gas purchases.
We remind you:
The European Commission on Wednesday, May 10, announced the first tender for the collective purchase of natural gas as part of efforts to diversify the supply of energy resources.
