Brussels, 22 February 2024
One week ago, we launched a new mid-term product under AggregateEU whereby companies buying gas can now place their demand for up to five years, i.e., until October 2029.
Today, I am pleased to announce an excellent response to this new service.
Altogether 19 companies – including industrial consumers – have submitted requests for a total volume of almost 34 billion cubic metres of gas.
LNG demand represents over 15,3 bcm, while more than 18,3 bcm is requested for delivery via pipeline.
First, this clearly shows that the joint purchase of gas is going from strength to strength.
Indeed, AggregateEU is now going to become a permanent instrument under our newly agreed gas market regulations, building on its success as a crisis management tool last year.
Just to recall what we achieved last year, under the four short-term tendering rounds. We matched some 42 bcm of aggregated European gas demand with reliable suppliers.
This helped to calm the markets and diversify purchase options for European consumers, leveraging our collective economic weight.
Second, it proves that we were right to design a mid-term product – based on the industrial feedback received – to boost predictability in gas deliveries.
I now invite all reliable international suppliers to participate in our first tender for this mid-term product, by submitting their offers.
This tender will open on February 26, i.e., next Monday, and suppliers will have two days to place their bids.
Let’s continue to make full use of the AggregateEU Platform for joint gas purchasing, because it is a concrete tool, helping us respond to a real challenge – high energy prices and uncertain supply.
The stability offered by this new product will be instrumental to the overall competitiveness of our industry.
And securing Europe’s industrial competitiveness is indeed an important overarching priority.
Today, President von der Leyen and I sat down with more than 20 representatives of key clean tech sectors – as part of a series of clean transition dialogues to boost the industrial dimension of the European Green Deal.
Innovative clean technologies are the backbone of the green transition, and they will play an increasing role in the EU’s economy.
We therefore focused our minds on very practical issues, such as the necessary regulatory framework to enhance domestic manufacturing capacity, speedy access to financing to leverage private investment, and ways to secure skilled workforce.
We also have to raise our game in the area of critical raw materials, and I will meet the representatives of the entire value chain tomorrow.
I want to hear what they have to say on ways to boost our domestic production of primary critical raw materials as well as the production of recycled and high-quality secondary raw materials, while also building fair, reliable partnerships with third countries.
Next Monday, I will sit down with more industrial representatives to discuss actions needed to develop the interconnected, scaled-up, smart infrastructure that is a pre-requisite to the electrification and decarbonisation of our economy.
I am particularly glad that the European Investment Bank and social partners are part of these engagements because we need all hands on deck.
We have no time to spare, as this will also determine our overall standing on the global stage.
So, you see, we are tackling both the short-term needs of our industries and citizens, and the transition to new business models and new products and services.