EU member states have been urged to lower gas storage targets due to the war with Iran. The news was announced by the Financial Times, which viewed a letter from the European Energy Commissioner. In it, Dan Jørgensen told energy ministers not to rush to replenish depleted gas reserves and to use flexibility to reduce demand from households and industry. The reason would be the current moment of geopolitical tension.
The measure is to lower the filling objective of gas storage plants to 80% of capacity: 10 percentage points less than the official European Union objectives. It was also advised to gradually start filling reserves to avoid the late summer rush and thus avoid putting pressure on the markets.
Early filling of storage
Start earlier and lower the quantities. This is what Energy Commissioner Dan Jørgensen called on European Union member states to do. Specifically, the call is to reduce the filling objective of gas storage facilities to 80% of capacity, i.e. 10% less than the official European Union objectives.
The official reason is to “avoid the late summer rush”. The European Commission, in fact, has undertaken to warn ministers both of the concerns on the energy issue and to give advice on how to achieve storage objectives without further pressure on gas prices.
At the moment the price of gas has increased by 21.5% and the Commissioner’s request suggests that the crisis could last a long time and get worse. Jørgensen in the letter also reassured the European Union’s energy supply which, he writes, remains “relatively protected”. At the same time he calls for a collective response to the conflict and warns that “recent developments indicate that it may take longer for Qatar’s liquefied natural gas production to return to pre-crisis levels.”
Storage levels European countries
When it comes to storage levels, Europe is very strict. It has been since it updated its objectives after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Fears of a gas shortage on the continent had pushed the European Union to set a storage level of 90%, objectives which were then softened in 2025 and which still enjoy greater flexibility today.
Now the European Union calls for storage of up to 80% in case of unfavorable market conditions, or 75%. However, this is 10 percentage points less than in the past, easy goals for many countries to achieve.
In fact, there are states that have very low gas reserves. The European average is less than 30%. There are countries that are progressing well, while others have much more to do.
In a non-linear ranking we can insert:
- Italy with reserves at 47.4%;
- Germany with just over 20%;
- the Netherlands at 7%.
Italy ready to stock from mid-April
The Minister of the Environment and Energy Security, Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, on the sidelines of the seventieth anniversary of Cesi, declared that Italy is ready to start with the 2026-2027 storage already around mid-April.
He explained that the evaluation must be made with respect to the capacity of the pumps, the extent of how much can be injected and the timing. He added that: “You can never be ready for a conflict. We must be ready to replenish stockpiles by the end of the year.”
Italy, compared to other European countries, appears to be in a better condition, also because, says Fratin, it has many alternative sources of supply. For this reason he says he is “quite confident that from mid-April stocks can be reconstituted adequately”.
