The European Union’s gas reserves are currently filled to 78.05% of their maximum capacity, according to data from the Aggregated Gas Storage Inventory seen by EUROPE on 25 August.
According to the new EU gas storage regulation, adopted as a matter of urgency to prepare the EU for a total halt in Russian gas supplies, Member States must ensure that underground gas storage facilities on their territory are filled to at least 80% of their capacity by 1 November, while striving to collectively achieve an EU-wide filling level of 85% (see EUROPE 12980/3).
Faced with the risk of gas shortages, some EU countries have set a more ambitious national target. France and Germany intend to fill their respective stocks to 100 and 95% by November.
Nine Member States have already exceeded the EU target: Belgium (85.56%), Czech Republic (81.57%), Denmark (93.76%), France (90.06%), Germany (81.07%), Italy (80.11%), Poland (99.56%), Spain (83.1%) and Sweden (90.8%). Latvia (55.31%), Bulgaria (59.1%) and Hungary (61.36%), on the other hand, are the most behindhand.
While the current level of storage at EU level is higher than last year at the same period (64.82%), it is still 2 percentage points below the average between 2016 and 2020, points out Thierry Bros, professor at Sciences Po Paris and energy expert.
Gas prices soar
On the price side, gas rose above €300/MWh on the EU wholesale market, peaking at €318/MWh during the day of 25 August, according to the European indicator Dutch TTF. (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)