Joint gas purchasing in Europe: can it change market competitive forces?

Europe has adopted joint gas purchasing to mitigate the risk of security of supply, lower gas prices and volatility exacerbated by the Russia-Ukraine conflict. This paper aims to investigate the implications of this mechanism for market competitive forces to obtain lower prices. The European gas market is still largely affected by forces that enable sellers to obtain high prices, particularly the high power of suppliers, the low power of buyers, and the moderate intensity of the rivalry between suppliers. The joint purchasing mechanism would reduce the power of suppliers and increase competition between them by attracting new and additional supplies […]