AggregateEU

Objective

AggregateEU’s main objective was to contribute to sufficient and diversified gas supplies for the winter 2023-2024 in EU countries and Energy Community Contracting Parties. It also aimed at reducing price volatility and increasing predictability, by providing information on available energy supplies, whilst harnessing Europe's collective market weight.

The Council agreed on 19 December 2023, following the Commission’s proposal, to prolong the legal basis for AggregateEU by 1 year (until 31 December 2024). 

A service provider, Prisma European Capacity Platform GmbH, operated the AggregateEU mechanism until 31 March 2025.

AggregateEU – how does it work?

AggregateEU pools gas demand from EU and Energy Community companies and matches this demand with competitive supply offers. Following the matching of demand with supply, companies can voluntarily conclude purchasing contracts with gas suppliers, either individually or jointly.

Company cooperation is particularly beneficial for smaller companies and companies from landlocked countries with less global outreach or negotiating power.

Purchasing contracts between companies and gas suppliers remain voluntary, and outside AggregateEU.

Mid-term matching rounds

With the effects of the energy crisis still not over, and to address the growing demand for stability and predictability from buyers and sellers of natural gas, AggregateEU introduced the mid-term matching rounds in early 2024. They were intended to

• support industrial consumers and other wholesale consumers in exploring additional purchasing options under a pseudonym, in other words, attract sellers purely based on the demand profile
• support sellers in identifying buyers who might be interested in a longer trading partnership of up to 5 years

The second mid-term matching round was launched on 12 March 2025. To participate, European companies needed to subscribe to AggregateEU by 10 March 2025. Demand from EU buyers had to be submitted between 12 and 17 March and put out for expression of interest by potential suppliers from 18 to 21 March. Matching results was published on 26 March. After the demand and supply are matched through the platform, companies are free to negotiate potential contracts bilaterally.

Participants are invited to collect the matching information on the PRISMA platform by 31 March 2025.

Features of the second mid-term AggregateEU round

• Delivery period - this round offered EU buyers the opportunity to submit their gas demand for a 5-year period covering July 2025 until October 2030.
• Free-on-board – in previous matching rounds, buyers and sellers could indicate a preferred terminal in the EU for the delivery of LNG. To better reflect LNG trade practices and attract additional international suppliers, in this round, buyers and sellers could also indicate their preference to have the LNG delivered free-on-board.

Since 2022, the EU Energy Platform is one of the instruments supporting the EU’s effort to completely phase-out Russian fossil fuel imports. This mid-term matching round reinforced the Commission’s continued commitment to the phase-out of remaining Russian gas supplies to the EU by once again allowing buyers to express their demand over a 5 year period and access competitive offers from reliable international suppliers.

Short-term matching rounds

5 short-term matching rounds have been organised since April 2023, covering 25 delivery points and 2 LNG virtual points (North-West, and South-East). During these 5 rounds, more than 55 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas demand from European companies have been aggregated and more than 63 bcm have been offered by international suppliers. After seeking the most competitive offers, AggregateEU has so far matched more than 43 bcm of gas to cover European demand. 

Overall, the EU Energy Platform has delivered excellent results in aggregating demand and coordinating the purchase of natural gas and has attracted strong interest from market players.

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