Germany wants EU to relax gas storage targets

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Germany wants the European Union to make its gas storage targets less rigid because of worries over their cost, the economic affairs and climate ministry said on Thursday.

The targets, introduced in response to the supply disruption caused by the Ukraine war, require all EU countries to refill their storage caverns to 90% of capacity by November, with intermediate targets for February, May, July and September.

The cost was highlighted as benchmark European gas prices rose to two-year highs this week.

“We support less rigid storage level requirements," a spokesperson for Germany's economic affairs and climate ministry said.

"More flexibility can ensure that the pressure to fill all gas storage facilities equally decreases and that market conditions normalise," the spokesperson added.

The issue was debated at a meeting between EU countries and the Commission, the EU executive, on Thursday.

Four sources close to the talks, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that Germany, which has the biggest storage caverns in the bloc, as well as other countries, including France, raised concerns the EU targets send a signal to the market that European buyers are obliged to buy, driving up prices.

The Commission has been preparing to propose extending the refilling targets beyond 2025. It has not commented publicly on whether it would be willing to be flexible over this year's targets.

EU gas storage sites this week fell to less than half full, after cold weather and reduced Russian supplies caused a faster drawdown of stocks, Gas Infrastructure Europe data shows.

(Reporting by Kate Abnett and Julia Payne; editing by Barbara Lewis)