The European Parliament and the Council, representing the Twenty-Seven, reached an agreement on Thursday on a regulation providing that member states fill their gas reserves to "at least 80%" of their capacity by November, announced the two institutions.

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According to this agreement, the mandatory minimum filling level of underground gas storage facilities will be increased to 90% for the following winter periods, in order to guarantee sufficient supplies to the EU. Russia's invasion of Ukraine highlighted Europeans' dependence on Russian gas.

For 2022, the minimum objective is 80% but “the Union will endeavor to collectively achieve the filling of 85% of the capacity of underground gas storage”.

Among the EU countries, nine (Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta and Slovenia) do not have gas storage facilities. They will have to ensure that at least 15% of their average consumption over the last five years is stored in another Member State.

Storage facilities in five countries (Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, France and Austria) account for two-thirds of total EU capacity.

The Council also specifies that “Member States could partially achieve the 90% objective by counting stocks of liquefied natural gas (LNG) or alternative fuels”.

The agreement, based on a proposal from the European Commission presented on March 23, will still need to be formally approved by Parliament and the Council to enter into force.

The EU has also set up a platform for joint purchases of natural gas, LNG and hydrogen, which should make it possible to negotiate better prices and to meet these storage obligations. A first meeting took place in April.

In 2021, the EU imported about 155 billion cubic meters of Russian gas, which represents 45% of its gas imports and almost 40% of its consumption.

Brussels has already begun to diversify its suppliers, turning in particular to the United States, Algeria and the Middle East.

The Commission wants to reduce its purchases of Russian gas by two-thirds this year and in full before 2030. It presented a 210 billion euro plan on Wednesday which plans to accelerate the use of renewables and energy savings.

The Europeans have already announced the end of Russian coal imports from next August and an oil embargo for the end of the year is being discussed among member states.