EU Gas Storage at Lowest Level Since 2011 as Ministers Delay Decisions

The European Union is heading into winter with its lowest natural gas reserves in about 15 years, while the bloc's energy ministers have yet to agree on binding measures to shield households from another energy price shock. According to Euronews, EU gas storage sites were 74% full on 20 October, the lowest level since 2011. Around 50 million Europeans already cannot adequately heat their homes.

The European Commission, the EU's executive body, stresses that there is no immediate threat to gas supplies, but acknowledges that the energy price crisis is gradually turning into a supply crisis as well.

Geopolitical backdrop

The situation is complicated by the war with Iran. The Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of the world's oil and natural gas is shipped, has been closed for almost eight months. Brent crude has risen to 110 US dollars a barrel. Gas prices have climbed 140% since the war began and, for the first time since 2022, have exceeded 100 euros per megawatt-hour.

Four options on the table

At a meeting in Luxembourg on 29 October, ministers reviewed four possible packages of measures:

• voluntary reductions in energy consumption;
• lowering the mandatory gas storage fill target from 90% to 80% to avoid panic buying;
• larger supplies of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and joint purchasing;
• cutting household bills, including installing smart electricity meters in half of European homes by 2030.

The meeting ended with discussion only. No specific consumption-reduction targets were set, and member states remain divided over joint energy purchasing and taxes on the energy sector. An agreement on electricity grid fees is unlikely before December.

The Commission notes that since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the EU has become more resilient to energy shocks. The gas may well be enough to get through this winter, but the key question remains unanswered: who will pay for it all?