Reservoirs natural gas European countries are filled, the average occupancy reaches 92%. The bitter truth, however, is that from Italy to the Netherlands, only about 10% of reserves and reservoirs are controlled by government agencies. The rest is in the hands of international trading and trading houses, utility and industrial conglomerates, and companies in general, who have complete freedom to sell to whoever offers them the greatest profit.

Some are in the hands of trading and trading houses such as Glencore Plc, Vitol Group and Trafigura. It is assumed that the natural gas network will allow available gas to move between different markets, and to the extent that there is enough fuel, a balance will be struck. But this was not tested in the crisis. According to Graham Friedman, an analyst at Wood Mackenzie, “a lot will depend on how severe the winter is.” He estimates that if it gets too cold, stocks will drop below 10% by the end of March.

To avoid an energy crisis, European governments may declare a state of emergency in their countries. In this case, the German Federal Grid Service, like all other national competent authorities, will be able to decide whether the gas will remain in the tanks or whether it will be injected to cover some needs. In the event of a problem in the system, neighboring countries could help each other by making up for the shortcomings.

Germany is most dependent on other countries as its reservoirs cover only 25% of annual demand. And while there is plenty of storage space in its tanks, it tends to turn to the reserves of neighboring Austria to power its industry and heat its homes, since almost half of the country’s homes use natural gas for heating. Austria tends to supply gas to other countries in winter as it usually provides 2/3 of its storage to other countries.

The Czech Republic and Hungary also have more energy storage capacity than they need for domestic use. Poland, on the other hand, is in an unstable situation. Although it is the fifth most populous country in the EU. with 38 million inhabitants, it has less storage capacity than Slovakia, which has a population of only 5.5 million.

How dangerous it is for private players to control gas reserves was demonstrated in July when German energy company Uniper SE, notably Germany’s largest importer of Russian gas, used the reserves to serve its customers when Russia cut supply. Her move ran counter to the Soltz government’s plan to fill the tanks and forced the Chancellor to allocate more capital to the companies. And now Uniper is being nationalized. As for cross-border gas flows, governments want to keep them as an important part of the European energy market. According to a spokesman for the Italian Ministry of Ecological Transition, “there are no concerns so far about the risks that the extraction of gas from Italian reservoirs for use by other countries may entail.”