Despite the unprecedented impact of COVID-19 over the economy of the EU, the functioning of the EU gas market continued to improve in 2020. This has been evidenced by increase in markets’ price integration and supply competition, as well as by the rise in liquidity at many gas trading hubs. Markets representing three quarters of EU gas consumption are assessed today as well-functioning and sufficiently integrated. Other jurisdictions with some of the historically less developed hubs are also showing promising signs of progress.
This is one of the main conclusions of the first volume released (Gas Wholesale Volume) of the annual Market Monitoring Report (MMR) developed by the EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER), the Council of European Energy Regulators (CEER) and the Energy Community. With the volume on Gas Wholesale being the first to be published; the other two volumes, namely, Electricity Wholesale and Retail and Consumer Protection, will be released later this year.
The Gas Wholesale Volume published today presents the results of monitoring the gas markets of the European Union and the Energy Community (a selection of neighbouring countries in Southeast Europe and the Black Sea region committed to extending the EU internal energy market). The volume assesses the progress made towards a fully functioning internal gas market. Complementarily it offers recommendations to overcome some identified barriers that can still hinder the competitiveness of selected markets or limit their market integration.
