Gas extraction from underground storage facilities in EU countries falls to 12-year low

Gas reserves in underground storage facilities in Europe fell below 64%, according to the Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE), Report informs referring to TASS.

By the end of last week, wind had returned to the region and the share of wind generation in EU electricity generation had risen sharply. Against this background, the extraction from storage facilities is the lowest since 2012. At the same time, applications for the transit of Russian gas through the territory of Ukraine increased by 2.8% to 40.3 million cubic meters and are at their highest since January 3.

On February 19, gas extraction from the UGS facilities of the EU countries turned out to be the lowest in 12 years and was only 216 million cubic meters. At the same time, the injection was equal to 85 million cubic meters (the second result for this day for the entire time of observations).

The heating season in Europe began on November 14, and since that moment, the EU countries have taken 39.12 billion cubic meters of gas from storage facilities. At the same time, the total extraction of gas from storage facilities on the 98th day from the moment of reaching the maximum of their filling is 9.14% lower than the average value for this day for the previous five years.

UGS facilities in Europe are now 63.95% full (20.84 percentage points higher than the average for this date over the past five years), they contain 69.2 billion cubic meters of gas. However, Gazprom warned that even close to the maximum gas reserves in the storage facilities of large European countries do not guarantee them a reliable passage of the autumn-winter period. The load on UGS facilities in Europe this winter is higher than in previous years due to changes in logistics and gas supply sources.

Europe slightly reduced LNG supplies from terminals to the gas transmission system due to warm weather. The capacities of regasification of liquefied gas and its further injection into pipelines in Europe are now loaded at 57% of the maximum. Since the beginning of February, the average gas purchase price has fallen to $608 per 1,000 cubic meters. On February 17, it completely fell below $550 per 1,000 cubic meters for the first time since the end of August 2021.