EU member states are considering softening the bloc’s binding gas storage targets in order to avoid sending gas prices soaring again ahead of what is anticipated to be a difficult year, Reuters reported on March 16.

The EU’s storage tanks are expected to end this heating season only 35% full, one of the lowest levels in years and half the 60% full they ended the 2023/4 season with. That will increase the demand for gas over this summer as members rush to reach the 90% full benchmark by November 1 demanded by EU regulations.

As bne IntelliNews reported, the EU import of Russian gas, largely as LNG, rose by 14% in 2024, but it will have to rise again this year in a politically unsavoury move. Despite its efforts to diversify its energy needs away from Russia, Europe remains hooked on Russian gas.

In 2023 the EU remained 90% dependent on imports to cover its gas needs. In 2022, Russia had still been the main EU supplier in all three main imported energy product categories: oil and petroleum products (21%), natural gas (23%) and solid fossil fuels (23%). Due to the EU sanctions imposed as a consequence of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine since 2022, these shares dropped in 2023 to 4%, 11% and 1% respectively, according to Eurostat.

“Redirecting gas flows has not been successful and Gazprom is stuck. China demands high discounts on gas and to build the power of Siberia 2 it even wants the same prices as the highly subsidized domestic prices. It makes Gazprom entirely loss making,” Elina Ribakova, non-resident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said in a social media post.

Ukraine removed 15bn cubic metres from the market when it refused to renew the Russian gas transit deal on January 1 that needs to be replaced. In addition, the cold winter means that Europe has also burnt an excess 10 bcm of gas that will also have to be replaced. These shortages are expected to drive up the cost of gas this summer so by softening the requirement to have tanks 90% full by November will reduce demand and restrain the price of gas the EU hopes.

The missing 25 bcm of gas supply also happens to be exactly the amount of gas that the surviving strand of the partially destroyed Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline can deliver, which remains intact, full of “technical gas” and could be turned on tomorrow. That has led some to suggest restarting the Nord Stream gas supplies to Europe could be a card to play in the current ceasefire talks between Ukraine and Russia, led by the US.

Countries including Germany, France and the Netherlands have raised concerns that the EU’s fixed deadlines for filling gas storage facilities are already pushing up market prices.

The European Commission has proposed maintaining the binding gas storage targets until 2027. However, EU governments and the European Parliament are in negotiations over possible amendments before approving the final regulations, Reuters reports. A draft proposal circulated among EU member states late on March 14 suggests moving the deadline for the 90% requirement for gas storage and instead, setting the deadline to a window between October 1 and December 1. Additionally, the proposal would make the EU’s intermediate gas storage targets voluntary rather than compulsory.

Diplomats from EU member states are set to discuss the proposed changes this week as part of an effort to avoid a repeat of the 2022 energy crisis that saw gas prices decuple that some argue has already begun. The draft was prepared by Poland, which currently holds the EU’s rotating presidency and is leading negotiations among member states.

The EU introduced the gas storage requirements in 2022 in response to Russia’s sharp reduction in gas deliveries, aiming to secure sufficient reserves for the winter months when heating demand peaks.