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On 25 January, Energy Club Vice-President Lisse Geert van Vliet took part in a virtual coordination meeting organized by the Energy Community (EnC) Secretariat regarding the EU Energy Platform. The meeting discussed the participation of gas companies in the EnC Contracting Parties in demand aggregation and joint purchasing. The meeting was joined by the chair of the ad-hoc Steering Board of the EU Energy Platform, European Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič, and representatives from the Contracting Parties.
Following the 20th Ministerial Council, participation of the EnC Contracting Parties in a joint purchasing of gas from non-Russian sources together with the European Union was set as a political goal. As a result, the Energy Community Secretariat convened a coordination meeting on joint gas purchasing, gathering high level representatives of the European Commission, the Contracting Parties, gas companies and industrial consumers. The meeting aimed to identify potential gas demand for joint procurement via the EU Energy Platform, to be created by a designated service provider.
European Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič stressed the urgency of political and market power aggregation when bidding for gas on the global market. The main priorities for the European Commission are, therefore, to receive (1) estimations of the required gas volumes; (2) a list of companies in the respective jurisdictions to participate in the joint gas purchasing consortium, and (3) the estimated times and locations for delivery to plan the spread over the filling season. Relevant representatives from the Energy Community Contracting Parties were requested to take part in the established regional groups for South-East Europe, Central-East Europe, and the Industry Advisory Group.
Many representatives from the Contracting Parties expressed their willingness to participate. The most immediate follow up steps would be to participate in the various groups and to fill in a questionnaire distributed by the Energy Community Secretariat.
Participation to the EU mechanism is open to all natural gas undertakings and undertakings consuming gas established in the Energy Community that comply with criteria as laid down in Council Regulation (EU) 2022/2576.