EU establishes platform for common purchase of gas

By Trend

The European Commission has established with the Member States an EU Platform for the common purchase of gas, LNG and hydrogen, Trend reports with reference to the Commission.

The platform has been created in order to secure the EU's energy supply at affordable prices in the current geopolitical context and to phase out dependency on Russian gas.

The EU Energy platform will ensure cooperation in areas where it is more effective to act in a coordinated way at EU level rather than at national level. These areas include:

Demand pooling: The Platform will work with Member State representatives to maximise leverage to attract reliable supplies from global markets and at stable prices that reflect the predictability and the size of the common EU market. This will allow moving, when appropriate, towards joint purchases.
Efficient use of EU gas infrastructure: the Platform will coordinate actions to maximise Liquefied Natural Gas imports absorption, comply with gas storage obligations and ensure security of gas supply. It will also help identifying additional infrastructure needs, suitable to cater for future hydrogen use.
International outreach: Considering the need to secure significant volumes of non-Russian gas already in 2022 and the global market tightness, the EU Energy Purchase Platform will also coordinate and reinforce EU's international outreach to gas partners and markets. This will include the main LNG exporting and importing countries with a view to define and agree on potential arrangements for diversification, including towards hydrogen. This work will take account of partners' supply capacities, long-term contracts and existing as well as planned interconnections and storage infrastructure in the EU.