Equinor to join EU's joint gas procurement scheme, von der Leyen says

Norway's Equinor will be joining the EU's joint scheme for gas procurement, with the aim of signing more long-term contracts between suppliers and customers, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday. EU countries, as well as Ukraine, are planning to jointly buy gas together in a bid to improve security of energy supply.

Norway's Equinor will be joining the EU's joint scheme for gas procurement, with the aim of signing more long-term contracts between suppliers and customers, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday.

EU countries, as well as Ukraine, are planning to jointly buy gas together in a bid to improve security of energy supply. The first contracts are expected to be signed this summer. "We are happy that Equinor will join (the scheme) as a supplier," von der Leyen told reporters during a visit to a North Sea gas platform.

"The goal is that we have more long-term contracts," she said, adding the terms of the agreements would be up to the companies involved. Equinor, which has become Europe's largest gas supplier following a drop in flows from Russia's Gazprom , was not immediately available for comment.

The Norwegian energy minister has previously said

he did not fear Europe's joint gas platform would become a buyers' cartel that would disadvantage Norway as a supplier. The Nordic country has been seeking assurances from the EU that the union it would buy its gas over the long-term so that it has an incentive to maintain production.

 

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