On 11 February 2026, ACER issued its Opinion on the Winter Supply Outlook 2025/2026, published by the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Gas (ENTSOG).
What’s in ENTSOG’s Outlook?
This year’s publication is particularly timely in light of the recent EU measure phasing out Russian gas imports, assessing the EU gas system’s readiness for winter 2025/2026:
- Europe entered winter with lower gas storage (83%) than last year (94%), but still has sufficient gas to meet demand, with storage levels expected to remain above 30% by the end of winter.
- With LNG now covering around 40% of EU gas demand, its availability is the main supply risk. Low-LNG scenario could deplete gas storage by winter’s end, requiring demand reduction.
What is in ACER’s Opinion?
ACER welcomes ENTSOG’s stress-testing of the gas system, the inclusion of the Russian gas phase-out and the consideration of the remaining gas dependency in the electricity sector.
However, it notes that the future security of supply assessments require moving beyond infrastructure constraints to better reflect supply challenges and diversification.
ACER also calls on ENTSOG to place greater emphasis on LNG availability, reflecting EU regasification capacity and global LNG market availability, rather than assuming demand reductions under low-LNG scenarios.
