The EU Council gives its green light to gas storages fill-up of 80%
The EU Council has definitively adopted the regulation aimed at ensuring that gas storage capacities in the Union are filled before the winter season and can be shared between member states in a spirit of solidarity, despite market disruptions of gas.
The gas storage on the territory of the Member States will have to be filled to at least 80% of their capacity by 1 November 2022 – and are encouraged to aim for 85%. The target for the next winter is set at 90%.
This is an important step to strengthen the security of the EU's energy supply in the context of the war in Ukraine, and rules were adopted in a record time thanks to the Council of the EU and European Parliament's examination of the proposal as a matter of urgency.
The decision comes after the weaponizing gas trade strategy of the Kremlin, in particular, when the Russian State-owned Gazprom started lowering the gas supply to 12 European Member States (inclu