The EU has urged member states to lower natural-gas storage targets and start refilling reserves gradually to curb demand, as energy prices spike during the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, the Financial Times reported on Saturday.
Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen instructed member states to lower the filling target for their gas storage facilities to 80% of capacity, 10 percentage points below the EU’s official targets, “as early as possible in the filling season to provide certainty and reassurance to market participants”, the newspaper said, citing a letter.
The European Commission did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.
Gas prices in Europe surged as much as 35% on Thursday as Iranian and Israeli strikes targeted some of the Middle East’s most important gas infrastructure, doing damage that will likely take years to repair.
“The EU’s energy supply ‘remains relatively protected’ Jorgensen said in the letter, calling for a “collective response” to the conflict and warning that “recent developments indicate that it could take longer for (liquefied petroleum gas) production to return to levels known before the crisis”, the FT said.
Gas storage allows Europe to meet winter heating and power demand, underpinning the region’s energy security.
“We need to make the targets more flexible,” an EU official told the newspaper.
The commission instructed governments on Wednesday to be flexible in enforcing EU rules on gas imports, in a move designed to ensure the law enforcing its phase-out of Russian energy does not inadvertently hold up deliveries needed to stabilise supplies during the Iran crisis.
(Reporting by Anusha Shah in Bengaluru; Editing by William Mallard)