Member States’ ambassadors to the European Union (Coreper) expressed broad support for the proposed EU regulation on gas storage on Friday 1 April, EUROPE reported.
Presented by the European Commission on 23 March, this legislative initiative will oblige EU countries to ensure that underground fossil gas storage infrastructure on their territory is filled to at least 80% of its capacity by 1 November 2022, and to 90% in subsequent years (see EUROPE 12917/7), by assigning national storage trajectories.
At their meeting, the ambassadors reportedly welcomed this objective, while sharing the Commission’s and the European Parliament’s desire to adopt the regulation quickly in order to ensure that the EU has sufficient gas reserves for the coming winter in the event of reductions or cessation of Russian supplies (see EUROPE 12923/14).
Member States with large underground fossil gas storage capacities are said to have nevertheless stressed the need to clarify the proposal’s effort-sharing provisions with EU countries that do not have such capacities.
On this issue, some delegations reportedly had questioned the inclusion of liquefied natural gas storage infrastructure and alternative fuels in the solidarity mechanism, as provided for in the proposal for a Regulation.
Other points to be clarified concern legal aspects relating to the mandatory certification of companies owning a storage system operator and the temporary nature of the regulation.
Member States’ experts will meet in the EU Council’s Energy Working Group on Tuesday 5 April to discuss these issues. (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)