The Council of the European Union (EU) on Monday adopted a regulation aiming to ensure that gas storage capacities in the EU are filled before the winter season and can be shared between member states.

The regulation provided that underground gas storage on member states’ territory must be filled to at least 80 percent of their capacity before the winter of 2022/2023 and to 90 percent before the following winter.

Overall, the EU will attempt collectively to fill 85 percent of the total underground gas storage capacity in the bloc in 2022.

Some member states do not have storage facilities on their territory, and so the regulation provides that they should store 15 percent of their annual domestic gas consumption in stocks located in other member states and thus have access to gas reserves stored in other member states.

European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson told at a press conference following a meeting of the bloc’s energy ministers held in Luxembourg that it was imperative that countries updated their contingency plans and turn to alternative means to save on gas.