EU considering pooling the demand of companies to purchase more US gas
In order to meet its commitment to purchase $250 billion of U.S. energy annually, the European Commission may pool the demand from European companies in order to buy more U.S. natural gas liquefied. This was announced on Thursday. In a framework agreement that the U.S. & EU reached on Sunday, the European Union committed to increasing its purchases of U.S. Energy to $750 billion in the next three year. Analysts say that's unrealistically high.
The Commission said that private companies will be able to decide where to buy their energy but it is considering combining European demand with U.S. supply.
A spokesperson for the Commission told reporters Thursday that "We're ready to do this."
The spokesperson stated that "at the moment we do not have any decisions on a dedicated aggregate, but it can be done very quickly, if there is a need and an interest." The EU launched "AggregateEU", a scheme in 2022 that pools the demand of companies for gas. This was done to try to replace Russian fuel by alternative supplies as a response to the Ukraine War.
The spokesperson for the Commission said that a round of this program targeting U.S. LNG can be organized as early as September if necessary.
The $750 billion deal covers EU purchases for U.S. nuclear fuel, LNG, and oil. Analysts say this figure is higher than what the U.S. could realistically export. They also note that EU oil and gas consumption will decline as the EU shifts towards clean energy in order to meet its climate goals.
The Commission said that the U.S. agreement will not undermine their climate targets which include legally-binding commitments to reduce emissions by 2030 and 2020.
The spokesperson said, "This will not have any impact whatsoever on our decarbonisation goals." "The agreement is only for three years," said the spokesperson on Thursday.
In a factsheet released on Wednesday, the Commission stated that it would be able to match EU companies up with U.S. suppliers of LNG for a much longer period. This could range from 2025 through 2050. (Reporting and editing by Bart Meijer, Barbara Lewis and Kate Abnett)
(source: Reuters)
