Germany is entering winter 2026 with gas stores well below target, the Financial Times reports, ‘leaving Europe’s biggest economy and potentially other EU countries vulnerable to further price surges and market shocks.’
As the EU’s biggest gas user with the largest storage facilities, by not shoring up this summer it means the country’s need to continue to buy gas on spot markets could increase prices for other countries. Germany has 250 TWh of gas storage facilities that are around 62% full – 18% below the 80% statutory requirement for infrastructure operators to hit before the winter months.
Continued geopolitical disruption means that gas prices – usually lower in the summer – stayed high. So far in 2026, Italy has paid €300 million to reach gas storage levels of 91%. Speaking at a conference in Milan, Italy, and reported by Reuters on Thursday 29 October, Alessandro Noce, an Italian energy official, said: ‘We are getting hit twice: we paid €300 million to fill the storage facilities, and we are paying more for gas because the Germans are buying it now… this is something that really makes me angry.’ On Friday 30 October, Germany’s economy ministry acknowledged that the country would miss its storage target, commenting: ‘Of course, it would have been better if the storage facilities had been filled to a higher level, but there were reasons why that did not happen, including the conflict in the Strait of Hormuz and the subsequent price increases.’
The EU’s energy commissioner Dan Jørgensen addressed a meeting of energy ministers in Luxembourg on Thursday, stressing that the EU will not reconsider plans to ban Russian LNG from the start of 2027, despite growing concerns over prices.
