Security of gas supply

Gas supply disruptions may result from technical or human failures, natural disasters, cyber-attacks and other emerging risks or geopolitical disputes.

Many EU countries import nearly all their supplies and some are, or have been, also heavily reliant on a single source, meaning that disruptions along a single transport route can threaten the certainty of their gas supply.

Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified full-scale military invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and its attempted weaponisation of Europe’s security of energy supply is a key example. It highlighted the EU’s over-dependence on a single, unreliable supplier for almost half of its gas imports.

Since May 2022, the EU has taken a range of actions to eliminate its reliance on Russian fossil fuel imports by saving energy, diversifying supplies and accelerating the roll-out of renewable energy production in Europe.

Key progress on security of gas supply

€90 billion

EU fossil fuel imports from Russia in 2019

€7 billion

EU fossil fuel imports from Russia in 2023

18%

EU gas demand reduction August 2022 - December 2023

(Source: Eurostat January 2024; ENER Chief Economist Team, 29 January 2024)

EU gas demand reduction measures

Reducing gas demand was a key part of the EU’s successful response to the energy crisis and phase-out of its reliance on Russian fossil fuels under the REPowerEU plan of May 2022.

Emergency measures winter 2022/23

In response to unilateral supply cuts from Russia in the first half of 2022, in August 2022, the Council adopted an emergency Regulation on Coordinated Demand Reduction Measures for Gas (EU/2022/1369), introducing a voluntary reduction of natural gas demand for EU countries by 15% for winter 2022-2023. The regulation was proposed by the Commission in July 2022 and also included the possibility for the Council to trigger a ‘Union alert’ to trigger mandatory gas demand reductions in case voluntary measures were not enough to meet supply.

Along with its proposal of July 2022, the Commission published the Communication 'Save gas for a safe winter' (COM/2022/360), which included a European gas demand reduction plan to prepare the EU for supply cuts. The Communication and its annex listed good practice measures to reduce demand and offered EU countries criteria to identify essential customers (for instance industries considered critical or strategic from a societal perspective, such as from the health and pharmaceutical or food sectors) which were not already protected under the Gas Security of Supply Regulation.

In December 2022, Council also adopted a proposal from the Commission on the temporary emergency Solidarity Regulation (EU/2022/2576), establishing among others default solidarity rules, extra safeguards for cross-border flows and critical gas volumes needed for gas-fired electricity generation.

Emergency measures winter 2023/24

On 30 March 2023, amid persisting risks and challenges on the energy market, the Council adopted the Commission’s proposal to prolong the coordinated gas demand reduction measures for a further 12 months to help avoid security of supply issues for winter 2023-2024 and fully compensate for the permanent decrease in Russian gas. The extension of the proposal also encouraged the Commission and EU countries to monitor and report the data on savings per sector every month, rather than total gas demand every 2 months.

Continued gas demand reductions

Visual showing 2 workers operating a gas pipeline. The visual contains text stating that between August 2022 and December 2023, the EU reduced its gas demand by 18% which is equal to 101 billion cubic meters

In February 2024, the Commission published a report on the functioning of the Gas Demand Reduction Regulation. It showed that between August 2022 and December 2023, EU countries collectively reduced gas demand by over 100 billion cubic meters compared to the 5-year average, demonstrating the effectiveness of the voluntary measures. On this basis, the Commission proposed a continuation of the voluntary gas demand reduction measures to help sustain and improve market stability and support the EU’s decarbonisation efforts.

In March 2024, a Council Recommendation was adopted encouraging EU countries to continue taking voluntary measures until March 2025 to maintain a collective 15% gas demand reduction, compared to the average demand between April 2017 and March 2022.

Emergency preparedness and resilience

Improved information exchange, regional cooperation and solidarity underpin the EU’s framework for emergency preparedness and resilience to gas disruptions, as set out in the Regulation on measures to safeguard the security of gas supply (EU/2017/1938).

The framework legislates for

cooperation between EU countries in regional groups to assess common supply risks (through common risk assessments) and to develop joint preventive and emergency measures
the facilitation of permanent bi-directional capacity on all cross-border interconnections between EU countries by transmission service operators, unless an exemption is granted
the preparation of EU-wide simulations of gas supply and infrastructure disruptions, carried out by the European Network for Transmission System Operators for Gas (ENTSOG) to provide a high-level overview of the major supply risks for the EU

In line with the Regulation on Conditions for Access to the Natural Gas Transmission Networks (EC/715/2009), ENTSOG is also required to undertake seasonal supply outlooks investigating, at the pan-European level, the security of gas supply ahead of each winter and summer period. These seasonal supply outlooks help the Commission in its monitoring work.

Reinforcement of gas storage rules

Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Commission published in March 2022 a proposal for an amendment of the Security of Supply Regulation, including measures to ensure well-filled gas storage in the EU. The proposal highlighted how gas storage contributes to the security of supply by absorbing supply shocks in case of strong demand or supply disruptions. The European Parliament and the Council adopted the proposal in June 2022, setting a 90% storage filling target until 31 December 2025.

EU rules on gas storage

Preventive action plans and emergency plans

The Gas Security of Supply Regulation requires the preventive action and emergency plans of EU countries to follow a common structure and contain the same key elements, making them easier to compare. It also requires them to be updated every 4 years and include regional chapters reflecting common risks.

Preventive action plans include measures needed to remove or mitigate gas supply risks identified in their national and common risk assessments
Emergency plans cover measures to remove or mitigate the impact of a gas supply disruption

The final plans and Commission opinions are available on a dedicated page, per EU country and linguistic version.

Gas Coordination Group

The Gas Coordination Group is a standing advisory group, coordinating security of supply measures, especially during crises. The group assists the Commission on monitoring the adequacy and appropriateness of measures to be taken under the Regulation (EU) 2017/1938, as well as serving as a platform for the exchange of information on the security of gas supply between key stakeholders. In addition, the Gas Coordination Group continuously monitors the storage levels and security of supply throughout the EU and its neighbourhood. The group meets regularly to discuss these matters.

Members include national authorities, the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER), the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Gas (ENTSOG), the Energy Community and representatives of industry and consumer associations.

Solidarity arrangements

Regulation (EU) 2017/1938 introduced a solidarity mechanism - only to be activated in the event of an extreme gas crisis.

Its function is to help ensure that so-called 'protected customers' like households and hospitals maintain access to gas, even in the worst crises. To do so, EU countries must ensure the necessary cross-border technical, legal and financial arrangements to make the flow of solidarity gas possible in practice during the emergency.

Under the regulation, the following bilateral agreements have been signed

Germany, Italy and Switzerland (19 March 2024)
Slovenia and Croatia (14 July 2023)
Denmark and Sweden (8 May 2023)
Finland and Estonia (25 April 2022)
Italy and Slovenia (22 April 2022)
Lithuania and Latvia (10 March 2022)
Estonia and Latvia (4 January 2022)
Germany and Austria (2 December 2021)
Germany and Denmark (14 December 2020)

In the context of the interinstitutional negotiations for the Hydrogen and Decarbonised gas market package, following the Commission’s proposal, the European Parliament and the Council agreed to amend Regulation EU 2017/1938 by establishing default solidarity provisions to operationalise the solidarity principle in case of a crisis, where bilateral agreements are not in place. Regulation (EU) 2024/1789, was adopted in May 2024, ammending Regulation (EU) 2017/1938.

Documents

1 OCTOBER 2020

Commission decision on the revision of certain exemptions from the obligation to enable bi-directional capacity pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2017/1938 concerning measures to safeguard