EU Gas Storage at 67%, Serbia Joins Joint Purchase Plan

Gas storage facilities across the European Union are about 67% full, while the price of the fuel has climbed to 79 euros per megawatt hour, nearly three times higher than at the start of the year. The figures were presented on September 10 by Gligo Vukovic, energy program manager at the EU Delegation to Serbia, in a statement to RTS.

Vukovic said that gas, oil and fuel shortages are not expected during the upcoming heating season, but that price will be the main challenge. At 79 euros per megawatt hour, the price is double what it was in June, when gas cost around 42 euros, and nearly three times higher than at the start of 2026, when it was selling for about 30 euros per megawatt hour.

A day earlier, Serbia’s energy minister presented the same figure using a different unit, over 800 euros per 1,000 cubic meters. It is the same price picture expressed through a different measure, so readers comparing the two sources should not look for a discrepancy in the underlying trend itself.

Why Serbia applied for the joint platform

Vukovic confirmed that Serbia has expressed interest and formally applied to use the European platform for joint gas purchasing, a mechanism that pools demand from several countries to secure a better price. According to him, the commercial details of the arrangement cannot yet be discussed.

As a country outside the European Union, Serbia does not have access to every mutual assistance mechanism member states can use during a supply crisis. Some support is still available: during the 2022 energy crisis, after the start of the war in Ukraine, Serbia received 165 million euros in direct EU budget support. A joint working group on supply security was also set up, and joint gas purchasing, Vukovic said, remains one of the mechanisms still open to Serbia.

Who is filling storage, and who is falling behind

Storage levels are uneven across the bloc. Poland and Italy have passed 90% of capacity, while Germany, the EU’s largest economy, sits at around 54%. EU rules require storage to be 90% full by November 1, with an allowance for that threshold to drop to 80% under special circumstances.

The structure of the EU’s gas supply has also shifted. Norway is the largest supplier, at 31%, followed by the United States at 26% and North Africa at 13%. Russia accounts for about 12%, with Azerbaijan and Qatar each supplying 4%. Liquefied natural gas now makes up nearly 45% of total European supply, double its roughly 20% share before the war in Ukraine.

Russian supply is being phased out on a fixed schedule: imports of Russian liquefied gas into the EU stop on January 1, 2027, and all remaining Russian gas contracts, including pipeline deliveries, expire on November 1, 2027. Vukovic noted that the process was not especially visible over the course of 2026, but that it is still being carried out on schedule under the REPowerEU plan.

The price you don’t see on the exchange

Vukovic warned that the spot price does not tell the whole story of what Europe pays for gas. About a third of total supply is bought on the spot market, while the remaining two thirds are secured through long term and medium term contracts, typically at different, more stable prices.

“Gas and oil shortages in Serbia and Europe are not expected,” Vukovic said, adding that “their price will be the biggest challenge.”

Serbian outlets previously reported that Brent crude broke through $100 a barrel at a time when gas in Europe was selling for about 77 euros per megawatt hour. Today’s price of 79 euros shows that the market has stayed in that same elevated range since then, without a sharp spike, but without a drop either.