MOSCOW, July 16. / TASS /. Gazprom notes the slow pace of recovery of gas reserves in underground gas storage facilities (UGS) in Europe, by mid-July, only a third of the volume taken last winter had been replenished, the company said in a statement on Friday. "Gas reserves in Europe's underground storage facilities are recovering extremely slowly. According to Gas Infrastructure Europe, as of July 14, only 22.4 bln cubic meters were replenished, which is only a third of the volume sampled in the last autumn-winter season," Gazprom said. 

According to the holding, the difference in the level of active gas in UGS facilities compared to last year remains very significant — 31.4 bln cubic meters. Earlier, Gazprom noted that the low level of reserves in UGS facilities in Europe is one of the factors supporting the price of gas on the European market. Spot gas prices in Europe at the TTF hub in the Netherlands have surpassed $ 400 per thousand cubic meters since June 22, according to ICE. The price per thousand cubic meters of gas on TTF on July 15 was $ 451.17, according to ICE data. At the end of June, it was reported that Gazprom had raised its forecast for the average export price of gas in Europe in 2021 to $ 240 per 1,000 cubic meters. Prior to that, the holding predicted the average export gas price for Europe in 2021 at a level slightly above $ 200 per thousand cubic meters.