Gazprom has taken care of Europe's storage facilities: gas is being consumed too quickly

Europe is rapidly using up gas reserves from underground storage facilities. This is reported by Gazprom.

"According to Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE), as of February 28, the last day of the calendar winter, 39.2 billion cubic meters of gas remain in European underground storage facilities. This is 38.5% of the storage volume and 24.3 billion cubic meters less than a year ago," the company reports.

They noted that the average rate of gas extraction is 36% higher than last season, and 22% higher than the average for the previous 10 years.

"This is happening against the background of weather corresponding to the climatic norm in the region. The selection is carried out from the stocks of previous years. The stocks made for this winter were fully selected back in January. As of February 28, 58 billion cubic meters of gas were taken from Europe's underground storage facilities, which is one and a half times more than it was pumped in the summer," Gazprom continued.

The season of selection from European storage facilities after the end of the calendar winter lasted from 19 to 51 days in the previous 10 years. During this period, from 1.8 to 11.2 billion cubic meters of gas were raised from storage facilities.

"This year this figure may be exceeded. Thus, by the beginning of the download season, Europe will approach with noticeably empty storage facilities. Given the reduction in reliable sources of gas supplies, it will be difficult to fill European UGS facilities this summer and thoroughly prepare for winter," Gazprom believes.

Due to sanctions and counter-sanctions, the export of Russian pipeline gas to Europe has decreased fivefold. However, it continues to play a significant role in the gas supply of Europe. Last year, it provided up to 10% of all imports. And this year, due to the stop of Ukrainian transit, it may decrease to 6-7%. The only supply route to Europe remains the Turkish Stream, which operates at an over-designed capacity and reached a new level of 55.8 million cubic meters per day in December.

Stop of Ukrainian transit, low stocks in storage facilities EU and almost empty UGS facilities at Ukraine may require additional purchases of up to 50 billion cubic meters from European traders. However, new LNG projects in the USA and Africa will be able to compensate for only 27 billion cubic meters.