EU says no gas crisis despite low winter storage

The European Commission and Member States say there is no immediate security of gas supply risk in the EU, even with storage lower than in recent years. The line comes from a 3 September 2026 Gas Coordination Group announcement posted by DG Energy, an official coordination-group statement rather than an emergency regulation.

Commission and Member State experts said the setup differs from 2021 and 2022 because of diversification, higher LNG import capacity, and reduced demand. They said the EU is on track for adequate winter preparedness and that the Commission sees no reason to intervene.

The same notice is clear about the stress still in the system. Qatari LNG production remains shut, recent heatwaves raised gas demand for power, and geopolitical uncertainty is still driving price volatility. The next Gas Coordination Group meeting is locked for 24 September.

Market secondaries are less calm. OilPrice, citing Bloomberg, put EU storage at about 66 percent full, the lowest for the date in nearly two decades against a five-year average over 80 percent, and said Europe still needs more than $8.1 billion of gas buys to reach even 75 percent. ING told OilPrice that netbacks now favor sending spot LNG to Europe, but winter competition rises if Qatar stays out.

Anadolu Agency quoted Commission spokesperson Anna-Kaisa Itkonen saying facilities are about 65 percent full and that no further action is needed for now. Itkonen also said members were told 80 percent is sufficient this winter, below the usual 90 percent legal target, and that the Commission can cut another 5 percentage points by delegated act.

The live official feed is the AGSI dashboard from Gas Infrastructure Europe, so the 65 percent and 66 percent figures are the secondary range now in circulation, not a single frozen print. The official no-immediate-risk line and the market's historically thin buffer can both be true at once. A thin stockpile still has to be filled while Europe competes for LNG, including after Hormuz-linked oil and gas shocks.