(Bloomberg) -- European Union gas traders called on the bloc to spell out any changes to storage rules in the coming months, saying persistent uncertainty could jeopardize refilling efforts this summer.
The EU currently requires countries to replenish tanks to 90% full by November — a rule that’s driven up stockpiling costs. Member states are due to sign off on plans to introduce more flexibility on Friday, but there’ll be further negotiations on the final shape of the law, leaving little time for markets to prepare.
Any new provisions should be made clear and communicated no later than the end of June, trade lobby Eurogas said Thursday. Traders need to know of any changes well before next winter, the group said, adding that it would also welcome a move to a looser, more market-based mechanism in future years.
“You have to trust that the market will take care of this as it has done,” Andreas Guth, secretary general of Eurogas, said in an interview. “The situation is very different today than it was in 2021-22, when there was strategic underfilling of storages.”
The EU introduced storage targets in the wake of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, when a drop in Russian gas shipments sparked concern that the region would have an insufficient buffer of supplies.
This past winter, Europe saw its biggest withdrawals from storage in four years, and several countries have called for more leeway on the task of refilling amid concern targets are pushing up prices.
Weak summmer demand typically encourages traders to stock up on cheaper gas, injecting it into storage. But that dynamic was disrupted in recent months as summer supplies fetched an unusual premium to winter contracts, making stockpiling unviable.
--With assistance from Elena Mazneva.
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