The European Parliament and EU member states have agreed on extending storage filling obligations of 90pc until 31 December 2027, with flexibility to meet the target between 1 October and 1 December.
The agreement needs to be formally adopted by parliament and EU ministers. Parliament's energy committee is expected to vote on the proposal on 26 June.
The revised gas storage regulation will be directly applicable in EU states, obliging them to reach 90pc gas storage filling for 2025, 2026 and 2027. Once formally adopted, the regulation will enter force the day after publication in the bloc's official journal.
Changes agreed in the amendments give states more flexibility to meet the storage target between 1 October and 1 December, instead of by the current 1 November deadline. Once a member state reaches the 90pc target, it "should not be required to maintain that storage level until 1 December". The amended law includes a possibility to deviate by up to 10 percentage points from the 90pc target in the case of "difficult conditions" that significantly limit the ability to ensure that gas storage is filled. These conditions include "indications of trading activities hindering cost-effective storage filling, low seasonal price spread, high price environment, storage levels below the trajectory at member state level or unforeseen technical circumstances that would make storage injection very difficult and costly".
National authorities are also required to give information on the share of Russian gas stored.
