EU energy ministers to discuss gas market adjusting mechanism

EU energy ministers at an extraordinary meeting in Brussels will try to reach a political agreement on a mechanism for adjusting the gas market to limit gas prices in situations of extreme volatility, Report informs citing Interfax.

Minister of Industry and Trade of the Czech Presidency of the EU Council, Jozef Síkela, at the previous meeting of the Council on November 24, expressed the hope that a consensus could be reached on December 13.

Too much is at stake, he said at a press conference in Brussels. Commenting on the heated discussion in the council and recalling the different ideas regarding the level of the gas price ceiling proposed by the European Commission, Sikela said that it was a kick-off debate.

“They will serve as the basis for the agreement that we want to reach in December,” added the Czech minister.

On November 24, it was not possible to agree on an adjustment mechanism.

European Commission (EC) spokesman Eric Mamer told reporters on November 25 that there would be no new EC proposal.

As originally proposed by the EC, the market adjustment mechanism could be automatically enabled and disabled under certain market conditions and could be suspended if necessary. The European Commission proposed to activate the mechanism if the price of TTF (Title Transfer Facility) for the next month exceeds 275 euros per MWh for two weeks, and TTF prices remain 58 euros above the base price of LNG for 10 trading days in a row for two weeks.

In addition, the proposal provides for the possibility of an immediate suspension of the mechanism by the European Commission if there is a risk to the security of gas supplies to the European Union.

Minister Sikela also explained after the meeting on November 24 that the meeting participants managed to agree on two other sections of the energy package - draft EU regulations, on which there will no longer be further discussions in December: collective gas purchases and solidarity measures, as well as procedures related to renewable energy sources.

In this regard, the materials of the Council for the December 13 meeting say that EU energy ministers are expected to adopt regulations on the regulation “on strengthening solidarity by improving the coordination of gas purchases, cross-border gas exchange” and on the regulation establishing “a temporary basis for accelerating the introduction of renewable sources energy.”

The official decision on the regulation on the gas market correction mechanism is expected to follow at the scheduled meeting of the EU Energy Council on December 19.