Netherlands Tells EU to Scrap Gas Storage Mandate After Spending Nearly €1 Billion to Comply

The Netherlands wants out of a European Union rule that has cost it nearly €1 billion ($1.1 billion) this year, and it's telling Brussels so directly.

Climate Minister Sophie Hermans sent a letter to the Dutch parliament today, Friday, September 25, 2026, arguing the EU's mandatory gas storage targets no longer make sense for the Netherlands, according to Rigzone and Bloomberg. The current rule requires member states to fill storage sites to fixed levels ahead of winter through 2027. The obligation is based mostly on how much storage capacity a country has, not how much gas it actually burns.

The Dutch have one of Europe's largest gas storage systems, built decades ago to hold gas pumped out of the Groningen field, but demand has been shrinking for years. Production at Groningen ended roughly three years ago after repeated earthquakes tied to extraction, according to Dutch News, so the storage caverns at Norg, Grijpskerk, Bergermeer and Alkmaar now get filled with imported gas instead, much of it costly U.S. LNG.

Minister Hermans told parliament that falling consumption and "large-scale purchases by other European governments" have distorted the economics of storing gas, according to Rigzone. The market isn't doing this job on its own, so the government keeps writing checks to hit a Brussels number.

The numbers behind the complaint

Europe's storage sites are 70% full as of this month, well below the five-year seasonal average of 86%, according to Rigzone, citing industry group Gas Infrastructure Europe. The Netherlands is worse off, sitting just over 56% full. Earlier this month, on September 11, the Dutch government had already lowered its own storage target from 74% to 64% of capacity, equal to 93 terawatt-hours, which the Climate Ministry called "more than sufficient" for an average winter, according to Briefs. At that point Gasunie, the pipeline operator, put actual storage at roughly 52%, the lowest level on record for that point in the calendar year, and warned the country was "less well prepared for a potentially cold winter."

Near-term gas prices have jumped relative to winter delivery contracts due to Middle East conflict, making it unprofitable for private companies to buy and store gas in the summer the way the system assumes they will, according to Reuters reporting carried by The Print. The European benchmark price is around €81 per megawatt hour, up 150% from a year earlier. Morgan Stanley analysts told Reuters the price could climb to €100/MWh depending on winter weather, and warned that "relying on weather for supply security is a risky bet."

Who should pay: taxpayers or suppliers

Filling the four Dutch facilities currently falls to Energie Beheer Nederland, a government-funded operator, which is facing roughly €1 billion in losses this year, according to Dutch News. The cabinet wants to shift that burden onto commercial suppliers like Essent, Eneco and Vattenfall by making seasonal storage a mandatory part of their business, similar to a rule already in place in Austria. The ministry's letter put it bluntly: "The question is whether the bill should continue to be met by the Dutch taxpayer, or whether supply guarantee can be ensured through a different mix of measures for a lower cost."

Under EU regulation, stored gas must be made available to other member states and the UK, which has limited storage capacity of its own, according to Dutch News.

Brussels appears to be listening

A draft document seen by Bloomberg shows the European Commission isn't planning to extend the mandatory targets past their current 2027 expiration. Instead, the Commission wants to fold the existing gas storage rules into a broader "security of supply" framework covering both gas and electricity, expected to be unveiled later this year. That aligns with what the Dutch are asking for.

The strongest case for keeping some version of the mandate comes from Gasunie itself, which has warned that lower storage levels leave the country exposed if winter turns cold, and from Morgan Stanley, which flagged the danger of betting supply security on mild weather instead of stockpiles. Neither wants a return to a rigid, capacity-based formula, but both are pointing at the same risk: lower targets plus a cold winter equals a price spike nobody budgeted for.

Meanwhile the political pressure keeps building elsewhere. Germany's AfD party won a state election in mid-September on a platform demanding cheaper Russian gas contracts, according to Reuters, tightening the squeeze on Chancellor Friedrich Merz just as the European Central Bank warns it may need to raise rates again if energy costs don't come down. Whatever framework the European Commission unveils later this year will have to answer a question the Dutch letter doesn't: what replaces the mandate if the market still won't stockpile gas on its own?