Germany to Cut Gas Storage Goals in Attempt to Ease Pressure

(Bloomberg) -- Germany will lower legally-binding gas storage targets by as much as half as it seeks to ease pressure on stockpiling ahead of the next heating season.

Cavern storage facilities — which are faster and more responsive to supply shortages — will have to be 80% full by Nov. 1, down from a previous target of 90%, according to an economy ministry press release. 

Porous reservoirs — including the country’s largest in Rehden — will have a lower aim of 45%, except for four sites near the borders with Switzerland and Austria, which will be subject to the higher rate as they are important to supply in those countries.

The move is meant to ease speculation in the gas market and comes after Europe’s gas market saw significant price distortions earlier in the year, which made it uneconomical for traders to stockpile fuel in preparation for the next heating season. While prices have eased since then amid worries about the economic repercussions from the unfolding US-led trade war, the region remains vulnerable to tight supplies.

“The proposed reduction in the storage targets is a step in the right direction and an important signal to the market,” said Kerstin Andreae, chair of the country’s BDEW energy association, in response to the measure. “It will help make storage filling for the winter of 2025/26 more market-oriented and cost-effective.”

A group of European Union lawmakers recently voted in favor of lowering the region’s gas storage target to 83% — with more flexibility in certain cases — and the bloc’s parliament will vote on the matter next week, before talks with member states on the final shape of the regulation.

The latest German measure “is intended to significantly reduce the speculation on the gas market that has been observed in recent months,” the economy ministry release said. The ministerial ordinance doesn’t require parliamentary approval.

It also said state-sponsored filling of storage sites via Germany’s gas market manager Trading Hub Europe GmbH “is not appropriate” and “would unnecessarily increase costs for gas consumers.” Earlier this year, a proposal on subsidized injections through THE unsettled markets.

The gas storage targets were introduced during the energy crisis to address concerns that Europe would not have enough gas to get through the winter after Russia cut its gas supplies. However, there has been criticism that they artificially raise prices during the summer — typically a period of lower demand and cheaper energy.

(Updates with comment from BDEW association in fourth paragraph.)

©2025 Bloomberg L.P.