Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/146 of 22 January 2026 amending Regulation (EU) 2017/1938 of the European Parliament and of the Council, as regards the composition of the risk groups

Official Journal EN of the European Union L series 2026/146 2.6.2026 COMMISSION DELEGATED REGULATION(EU) 2026/146 of 22 January 2026 amending Regulation (EU) 2017/1938 of the European Parliament and of the Council, as regards the composition of the risk groups THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION, Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, Having regard to Regulation (EU) 2017/1938 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2017 concerning measures to safeguard the security of gas supply and repealing Regulation (EU) No 994/2010(1), and in particular Article 3(8) thereof, Whereas: (1) Regional cooperation, in a spirit of solidarity, is a core principle on which the security of gas supply mechanism established by Regulation (EU) 2017/1938 is based. In order to make regional cooperation operational in practice, Annex I to that Regulation, as replaced by Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/517(2), identifies thirteen risk groups corresponding to four main emergency gas supply corridors. For each risk group, Annex I lists the Member States that may be affected or play a role, or both, in case of supply disruption along the corridor. (2) Since the adoption of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/517 several events ocurred and impacted the gas security of supply in the Union, such as Russia’s full-scale military invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. New gas infrastructures entered into operation and several further new pieces of infrastructure are expected to be commissioned in the next months. Those additional infrastructures, including new Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminals, impact the gas flows within the relevant emergency gas corridors and strengthen the resilience of the EU gas system in the event of potential disruptions. (3) Under Article 7(1) of Regulation (EU) 2017/1938, the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Gas (ENTSOG) carried out in December 2024 a revised Union-wide simulation of gas supply and infrastructure disruption scenarios(3). This simulation took into account the evolution of the Union gas infrastructures since 2017 and its impact on the different emergency gas supply corridors. (4) The impact of the new and upcoming gas infrastructures on the emergency gas corridors, the increased weight of LNG and the reduced role of certain pipeline supply corridors, as reflected in ENTSOG’s Union-wide simulations, justify a reduction of the number of the regional risk groups and a change in their composition, also in a spirit of simplification and rationalisation of the current structure of regional cooperation. (5) Regulation (EU) 2017/1938 should therefore be amended accordingly, HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: Article 1 Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2017/1938 is replaced by the text in the Annex to this Regulation. (1) OJ L 280, 28.10.2017, p. 1, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2017/1938/oj. (2) Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/517 of 18 November 2021 amending Regulation (EU) 2017/1938 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the composition of the risk groups (OJ L 104, 1.4.2022, p. 53, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/ reg_del/2022/517/oj). (3) ENTSOG Union Wide Security of Supply Simulation Report, January 2025. ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg_del/2026/146/oj 1/3EN OJ L, 2.6.2026 Article 2 This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union. This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States. Done at Brussels, 22 January 2026. For the Commission The President Ursula VON DER LEYEN 2/3 ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg_del/2026/146/ojEN OJ L, 2.6.2026 ANNEX ‘ANNEX I Regional cooperation The risk groups of Member States that serve as the basis for risk associated cooperation as referred to in Article 3(7) are the following: 1. LNG supply risk group: (a) Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland, Sweden. 2. North Sea gas supply risk group: (b) Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, France, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Finland, Sweden. 3. North African gas supply risk group: (c) Spain, France, Italy, Malta, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia. 4. South-East gas supply risk group: (d) Bulgaria, Czechia, Greece, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Hungary, Austria, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia.’ ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg_del/2026/146/oj 3/3