MOSCOW, August 2. /TASS/. Russia’s gas producer Gazprom slightly reduced pumping to European gas storage facilities at the end of July 2021, though overall gas pumping to European underground storages has been stably rising in recent months, according to the data provided by Gas Infrastructure Europe.
The Austrian Haidach, in particular, one of the largest European storages owned by a joint venture of Gazprom Export and Wingas, reduced pumping from 48.96 GW per hour to 30.7 GM per hour on July 30. Meanwhile, during the month the supply of Russian gas ranged from zero to the figures quoted above depending upon the day. In general, the gas fill rate of the storage is on the rise. For example, on July 2 it equaled 26.4%, whereas by July 31 it increased to 31%. In total, as of the end of the month, 3.52 TW per hour of gas was stored in the facility, whereas on July 2 it was 22.99 TW per hour.
The situation in the German underground storage facility Reden is similar as gas pumping there went down from 228.8 GW per hour to 186 GW per hour on July 30. However, it remained at zero for almost half a month, according to the data provided by the system. The fill rate of the storage rose from 8% to 9.2% in July. As of July 31, 4 TW per hour of gas was stored there, while at the beginning of July it was 3.5 TW per hour.
Pumping declined sharply at the Bergermeer storage in the Netherlands on July 27 - from 237 GW per hour to 89.7 GW per hour. Meanwhile, as in the previous two cases, pumping ranged on certain days from zero, with the situation not demonstrating any signs of trend as of the end of the month. On July 2 the fill rate of the storage equaled 14.5%, whereas as of July 31 it was 16.8%. Overall, 8.07 TW per hour of gas was stored in the underground storage facility as of the end of July compared to 6.95 TW per hour as of the beginning of July.
In general, as of July 31, Europe’s fill rate was estimated at 56.9%, while at the beginning of July it was 48%. An aggregate of 633.2 TW per hour of gas was stored in them compared to 534.4 TW per hour as of the beginning of the month.