Dan Jørgensen, the European Commissioner for Energy, recently sent a letter to the energy ministers of EU member states, suggesting that they lower their natural gas storage targets and gradually adopt "off-peak" storage strategies to address the energy supply shortages and price surges caused by conflicts in the Middle East.

According to a report by the Financial Times on the 21st, Jørgensen proposed in the letter that countries flexibly adjust their gas storage targets based on market conditions, reducing them from the EU’s previous target of 90% of total storage capacity to 80% as soon as possible, in order to provide certainty and confidence to the energy market.

Jørgensen called on member states to gradually begin "off-peak" natural gas storage to avoid market pressure from concentrated storage efforts at the end of summer. He also suggested extending the deadline for meeting storage targets by one month to December 1. He stated that the EU’s energy supply is "relatively secure," but countries must "jointly address" the impact of the Middle East conflicts.

Following the escalation of the Ukraine crisis in 2022, the EU set a target for natural gas storage at 90% of total capacity to ensure energy supply security, which could meet 25% to 30% of Europe’s winter gas demand. According to AFP, current gas storage levels vary across EU countries, with Italy’s reserves at about 44% of capacity, Germany and France at around 20%, and the Netherlands at only 7%.

On February 28, the United States and Israel launched military strikes against Iran, leading to a sudden tightening of energy supplies. According to Iranian media reports on March 18, parts of Iran’s South Pars and Asaluyeh petrochemical facilities in the southern Bushehr province were targeted in U.S.-Israeli airstrikes. Iran subsequently announced strikes on oil facilities in Gulf countries such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar that are linked to the United States.

On March 19, Qatar’s Energy Minister, Saad Al-Kaabi, stated that the attacks had affected 17% of Qatar’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) export capacity. The repair work is expected to disrupt 12.8 million tons of LNG production annually and could last for three to five years.

As a result, the price of the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF) natural gas futures for April, a benchmark for European gas prices, surged by more than 30% on the day of the announcement, rising above €70 per megawatt-hour. This represents an increase of more than double compared to the pre-conflict level of around €32.