EU countries back plan to soften gas storage rules before winter

By Kate Abnett

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -European Union countries on Friday backed looser rules on filling gas storage ahead of winter, amid concerns that the bloc's current binding regime inflates gas prices.

The EU's gas storage rules were introduced in 2022 to ensure EU countries had a buffer of stored fuel during winter, after Russia cut gas deliveries, sending Europe's gas prices soaring.

Ambassadors from EU countries approved the planned changes in a meeting on Friday, the council of the EU said in a statement.

The changes would let countries deviate by 10 percentage points from the EU's requirement to fill gas storage to 90% of capacity ahead of winter, if market conditions are unfavourable.

The existing regime includes a binding commitment to fill storage to 90% capacity by November 1 this year. Countries agreed to keep this binding goal, but proposed amending its deadline to allow them to reach it at any time between October 1 and December 1.

Countries must now negotiate the final rules with the European Parliament. Negotiations are due to begin in May.

The changes will apply to EU filling targets for 2026 and 2027. They will also amend this year's November target if countries and lawmakers approve them before that date.

Countries, including Germany, France and the Netherlands, have warned that the rules inflate gas prices by signalling to market participants when European buyers need to buy large volumes.

The negotiating stance backed by EU member countries would also let them deviate by an extra five percentage points from the 90% target in certain circumstances - for example, if technical constraints mean a storage facility takes more than 115 days to fill.

Countries also want to make voluntary the EU's binding intermediate filling targets for the months leading up to November.

Industry group Eurogas urged policymakers to finalise the changes by July. The group said in a statement that uncertainty over the rules "creates additional challenges for market operators in making informed decisions regarding storage filling".

Benchmark EU gas prices have tumbled since February, retreating to a near-nine-month low this week, in reaction to concerns of the economic fallout from U.S. President Donald Trump's trade war, as well as the push from EU countries to ease storage-filling targets.

(Reporting by Kate Abnett; Editing by GV De Clercq, Jane Merriman and Susan Fenton)