On March 05, the European Commission (EU Commission) proposed the prolongation of the Gas Storage Regulation, which is in force since July 01, 2022, until the end of 2027. The prolongation is intended to ensure that potential supply risks, especially in the winter months, can continue to be dealt with in the future.
The prolongation now proposed by the EU Commission does not lead to any changes to the content of the Gas Storage Regulation but merely aims to extend the period of application of the relevant provisions until December 31, 2027.
Background to the original introduction of the regulation
The original introduction of the regulation was driven by the unprecedented gas price increases following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Those price increases were assumed to fundamentally change the incentives to fill underground gas storage facilities, whilst further disruption of gas supplies could not be excluded. In view of the risk of such extreme price peaks and supply disruptions, underground gas storage facilities became the focus of attention at that time.
Against this background, Gas Storage Regulation in its original version primarily amended the “Regulation (EU) 2017/1938 concerning measures to safeguard the security of gas supply” by implementing both mandatory filling targets and filling trajectories. Accordingly, the Member States are obliged to ensure that they achieve a level of 90 % for the aggregated capacity of all underground gas storage facilities that are located on their territory. In the introductory year 2022, the filling target was still 80% as of 1 November. The intermediate targets for each year and each Member State are established by an implementing regulation.
Proposal of the EU Commission
The proposal to amend the Gas Storage Regulation published in March 2025 by the EU Commission only contains the prolongation of the current provision until the end of 2027. The relevant provisions would expire on 31 December 2025. However, the prolongation does not correlate with substantive changes to the relevant provisions for underground gas storage facilities.
Even though the price peaks and supply crisis are no longer as acutely relevant as they were in 2022, the Gas storage Regulation remains an essential legal regime in the view of a continuing tight gas-market situation according to the EU Commission. In line with the RePowerEU plan, there is still a significant need to reduce the EU's dependence on imports of primary energy from sources outside the EU. The effects of this dependence on (gas) imports became blatantly apparent due to the Ukraine crisis.
The prolongation is intended, on the one hand, to take into account the general facts that underground gas storage facilities provide for 25-30% of gas consumed in the EU during the winter months and that these storage facilities make a significant contribution to the security of gas supply by providing additional gas in the event of high demand or supply disruptions. On the other hand, especially the setting of mandatory filling targets has proven to be an effective means of dealing with an energy crisis. Overall, the prolongation of the Gas Storage Regulation is therefore considered a necessary measure to ensure predictability and transparency in the use of gas storage facilities within the EU.
Accompanying Recommendation
In the past, the rigid targets set out in the regulation have been the subject of repeated criticism. In order to address this criticism, the EU Commission has presented a “Recommendation on the implementation of the gas storage filling targets in 2025” to accompany the proposed regulation. The Recommendations aims to encourage the Member States to look into flexibility options already for the filling levels in 2025. Therefore, the Member States shall, i.a., take the actual market conditions into consideration when deciding on measures regarding the storage filling levels throughout the year. The Commission also points out that, under certain circumstances, in the event of exceptional market conditions leading to exceptionally low feed-in rates, the filling target will not have to be met until 1 December, which generally only applies in the event of technical problems such as pipeline bottlenecks or problems with feed-in facilities.
What happens next?
With the presentation of the draft, the EU Commission has initiated the ordinary legislative procedure. Following analysis, the European Parliament and the Council will adopt their respective positions within the frame of interinstitutional negotiations and trilogue formats. The procedure will be completed with the final votes in Parliament and the Council, after which the regulation can enter into force.
The restriction of the prolongation to a two-year period is due to the fact that a new legal framework for EU energy security is expected to be introduced in the course of 2027. Based on the planned precedent review by the EU Commission, the maintenance and/or extension of the current provisions regarding gas storage facilities will be part of the future revised EU energy security framework.
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