EU's second mid-term gas matching round delayed but still set for Q4

The European Commission's second mid-term gas supply and demand matching round under the AggregateEU mechanism -- which had been due to launch on Oct. 21 -- has been pushed back but is still set to take place before the end of 2024.

In a note on its website, the EC said the second mid-term round would still be launched in the fourth quarter of 2024 with specific dates to be announced "in due course."

Platform operator Prisma said the next mid-term matching round would no longer start on Oct. 21 as originally intended.

"This round will now take place on a later date to be announced in the next few weeks," it said, with no reason given for the delay.

Prisma said interested parties that wanted to participate in the upcoming round could still subscribe.

AggregateEU, launched in the wake of Europe’s energy crisis in 2022, began as a short-term mechanism, allowing participants to arrange gas delivery two months from demand submission.

Across five tenders held since April 2023, the mechanism saw a total 43 Bcm of gas supply matched with demand after some 55 Bcm of demand was aggregated, meaning a matching rate of around 78% across all four tenders, EU data showed.

First mid-term round

The first mid-term offering held in February this year saw 17 suppliers submit offers totaling 97.4 Bcm, while just under 34 Bcm in gas demand requests were made via the platform.

In the second round, buyers can again express their demand for gas over five years, from January 2025 to March 2030.

Prisma said the initiative would be especially beneficial for companies in EU member states in Southeast and Central Eastern Europe, where diversification of supply options is most needed.

An EU source told S&P Global Commodity Insights that following the development of the mid-term product, the EC would no longer pursue its short-term product offering.

"AggregateEU was a safety net," the source said. "At the time of its creation, there was absolutely no guarantee that standard practices in the market would continue to function as they functioned. It served a purpose in that context."

The EC's decision to offer a mid-term product has attracted commercial interest, including from large gas traders and energy-intensive companies, the source said.

The latest round comes as gas prices in Europe continue to trade well below their 2022 peak.

Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, assessed the benchmark Dutch TTF month-ahead price at an all-time high of Eur319.98/MWh on Aug. 26, 2022.

Prices are now back closer to pre-crisis levels thanks to healthy storage levels and demand curtailments, though remain high, with Platts assessing the TTF month-ahead price on Oct. 21 at Eur39.95/MWh.