EU is considering joint gas reserve

The European Commission is going to revise the gas market legislation due to soaring prices over the past few months, Euractiv reports.

A revision of the gas market legislation scheduled for December 14 aims to improve access to gas storage facilities and include options allowing joint purchase of gas reserves, Euractiv reports.

The spike in gas prices has hit the poorest EU households and extended business costs, which is slowing Europe's economic recovery.

“The upcoming suggestions will address, among other things, the key issue of gas storage,” Kadri Simson, EU Commissioner for Energy said.

She also stated that Europe is observing the uncertainty created by the geopolitics of neighboring countries, meaning Belarus and Russia.

Russia stores much less gas reserves in European storage facilities compared to the previous year.

Poland accused Russia of deliberately limiting gas supplies and called on the European Commission to launch an antitrust investigation into Gazprom's monopoly on Russian gas exports.

Spain, France and other countries are suggesting buying gas together.

According to a joint document submitted by France, Greece, Italy, Romania and Spain, this will be a mechanism for voluntary joint purchases or centralized gas purchases under “option contracts” through competitive auctions.

After that, it would be possible to create a strategic gas reserve in the EU, "providing additional volumes of gas at affordable prices," the joint document reads.

Simson appears to have backed the idea, telling EU ministers that the upcoming European Commission's gas package "will, among other things, address the key storage issue."

As for the issue of electricity market reforms, the EU Energy Commissioner rejected calls from Spain and France to reform the EU electricity market, saying the current market structure works exactly as intended.

To recap, Lukashenko said he was ready to stop energy carriers’ transit to the EU.

As reported, Russia and Belarus agreed on the gas price for 2022.

Tags: Gazprom, legislation, EU, UGSF, RF, heating season, Gas market, negotiations, price, gas supplies, natural gas, Belarus, crisis

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