Member states’ representatives (Coreper) approved on Friday the Council’s position on amending the gas storage regulation. The Commission proposed to extend by two years member states’ existing obligations to have their gas storage facilities 90% full before the winter season, in order to provide predictability and transparency. This extension, also kept in the Council’s position, would reduce the EU’s exposure to volatile prices, including due to the current geopolitical instability, says a Council release seen by Energynomics.
It would also help to improve energy security and gas market stability until a potential EU-wide framework on energy security is established in the upcoming years.
The Council mandate introduces a series of changes to provide additional flexibilities for member states. This would help them react swiftly to constantly changing conditions and to take advantage of the best purchasing conditions, while ensuring security of gas supply and the correct functioning of the internal market. In particular, the already existing binding 90% filling targets should be reached anytime between 1 October and 1 December instead of the current 1 November deadline. Also, the Council mandate clarifies that intermediary storage targets for each member state in February, May, July and September are indicative, in order to achieve storage filling and predictability while leaving sufficient flexibility for market participants throughout the year.
In case of unfavourable market conditions (such as possible market manipulations), member states may deviate by up to 10% from the filling target, and the Commission may further increase this deviation (with a delegated act), in case of persistent unfavourable market conditions.
If the national gas production of member states exceeds the average annual consumption over the preceding two years or in the event of slow injection rates of storage facilities with a capacity of over 40 TWh, member states may deviate by up to 5% from the filling target. The latter flexibility can be used as long as it does not impact negatively the functioning of the internal gas market or the ability of directly connected member states to supply gas to their protected customers
Negotiations on the new regulation are expected to start in May, once the Parliament has voted on its mandate. Once a provisional agreement is reached between the two co-legislators, it will be formally endorsed by both institutions before being published and entering into force.
