VIK Mitteilungen, 03.2025

Physical LNG procurement on the US Henry Hub (HH) market offers a significant price advantage over the German natural gas market THE. Although logistics costs from HH to the THE market reduce this advantage, it remains very significant depending on the market situation. Another advantage is the price stability of HH prices and logistics costs, whereas THE prices can fluctuate significantly. However, the hurdles to physical LNG procurement are high, even for very large consumers.

ener|gate messenger, 11.06.2025

Industrial customers only benefit from the distribution of surpluses from the balancing levy in exceptional cases. Hardly any ustomers without their own balancing group have voluntarily received anything, writes the consulting firm ecotec in its blog.

ener|gate messenger, 17.02.2025

The second tender for medium-term gas supplies on the EU platform AggregateEU begins on 12 March. Companies can use the platform to request natural gas supplies as seasonal products for the period from 2025 to October 2030.

ener|gate messenger, 18.09.2024

The VIK industry association and Ecotec have gathered enough interested parties to participate in the next AggregateEU gas tender.

VIK Mitteilungen, 3/2024

In the EU and in Germany, natural gas is under political pressure. To achieve the climate targets, natural gas reserves should remain untapped. Environmental pollution during extraction and transport ought to be minimized, keyword EU Methane Regulation. The natural gas (distribution) grid is due for decommissioning by 31.12.2044 unless a retrofit for green gases succeeds. Compared to earlier times, natural gas is less economically relevant for the EU, as its own sources are increasingly drying up and natural gas is largely imported. In this respect, the rapid switch from natural gas to renewable energy sources is…

ener|gate messenger, 29.07.2024

The industry association VIK and ecotec want to jointly establish an LNG pool for participation in the next AggregateEU medium-term gas tender.The consulting firm from Meschede (NRW), which specialises in industrial issues, outlined the potential cooperation in a joint online seminar at the beginning of July.

ener|gate messenger, 22.01.2024

In the future, the European gas procurement platform AggregateEU will not only broker gas supply contracts for individual months, but also for half years. The new products were introduced at the request of market participants, in particular industrial gas users, as cited by the Vice President of the EU Commission Maroš Šefčovič in a statement from the platform operator PRISMA.

ener|gate messenger, 08.08.2023

The new European gas tender AggregateEU has so far attracted few industrial customers. Brussels wants to develop the tool further. How can interested industrial customers prepare for this?

A guest commentary by Markus Schnier, owner of ecotec

Barbara Lempp, lawyer and former managing director of the energy traders' association EFET Germany, joins ecotec.

Groundbreaking news from ecotec: From mid-June, Barbara Maria Lempp will join the team in Meschede as COO in order to further accelerate the strong growth of the consultancy firm for the fields of business energy, sustainability and subsidies and will help expand the range of services.

VIK Press Releases, 2/2023

The EU gas purchasing platform "AggregateEU", which was adopted in December 2022, is intended to generate an additional supply of natural gas for the European market. To this end, the demand determined via the platform, particularly for globally available LNG, will be aggregated and put out to tender. The web meeting of EU officials and the platform operator PRISMA was with around 350 participants well attended on March7th and gave the impression that AggregateEU is set to be a success.