EU countries plan to fill underground gas storage facilities to fullest

EU countries continue pumping gas into underground storage facilities, trying to fill them to the maximum before the winter season, Report informs referring to the Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE).

As of the end of the gas day on October 22, European underground gas storage facilities were 93.43% full, with an increase of 0.25 percentage points per day. In total, facilities in Europe now have about 101.1 billion cubic meters of gas.

In 2021, storage facilities in the EU were 77.21% full on that date. However, for now, the EU still lags behind the injection rates of 2019 and 2020, when facilities were filled by 97.55% and 94.48%, respectively.

According to EU rules, all countries by November 1 this year must fill gas storage facilities by at least 80%, and in subsequent years - by at least 90%. In this regard, only Latvia remained lagging behind with 55.99%.

At the same time, only 18 countries out of 27 in the EU have underground gas storage capacities, and the capacity in them is uneven. At the same time, storage facilities usually provide only 25-30% of the gas consumed in Europe in winter.

Traditionally, the heating season in Europe begins in mid-October-early November. Reserves even close to maximum in storage facilities in large EU countries do not guarantee safe autumn-winter period, Russia’s Gazprom believes.