By Oyintari Ben
The European Union introduced a programme on Tuesday that allows European enterprises to submit orders to jointly purchase petrol in an effort to ensure that Europe has enough fuel and prevent a repetition of last year’s record-high energy costs.
Companies have until May 2 to register the quantity of gas they wish to purchase through the EU programme, which will not include Russian gas.
The platform will then compile bids from international vendors to satisfy the needs of the businesses.
Gas contracts will be negotiated by matched suppliers and buyers.
The EU won’t take part in these business negotiations.
After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the accompanying decrease in gas supply to Europe, which caused European energy prices to reach record highs, the EU came up with a joint purchasing plan.
Several nations, including Spain, have proposed cooperative purchasing to negotiate better pricing on the international petrol markets.
The programme will only cover about 13.5 billion cubic metres (bcm) out of the 360 bcm total gas demand in the EU, but it should assist nations, in the beginning, to fill their gas storage tanks ahead of the peak winter demand.
Industry leader James Watson of Eurogas said the programme was a welcome attempt to anticipate the energy requirements of businesses and consumers.
By November, EU nations must fill 90% of their gas storage capacity. After countries reduced their winter energy usage due to rising prices, EU storage is already more than half filled, an exceptionally high level for the time of year. Demand was reduced as a result of the warm weather.
The tendering procedure will be repeated every two months for the following 12 months, according to Brussels, which expects the first gas deals to be completed in the upcoming weeks.
To assist smaller businesses, companies can use the system to request pipeline or liquefied natural gas (LNG) delivery in relatively tiny volumes—down to a third of an LNG cargo.
