MOSCOW, November 30. /TASS/. The reserves in European underground gas storage facilities currently equal 75.5 bln cubic meters, which is 15 bln cubic meters below the average level, department head of Gazprom Export, the export arm of the Russian gas holding Gazprom, Andrei Zotov told a telephone conference on Monday.
"As for today’s total gas reserves in underground gas storage facilities on the EU territory, we reported 75.25 bln cubic meters as of [November] 27 with the average level over the past six years equaling 90.73 bln cubic meters, meaning the difference is minus 15 bln cubic meters. The pumping has not been sufficient recently," he said.
The reserves of Gazprom itself in European gas storage facilities are not large, Zotov noted, adding that the pumping is underway. Gas consumption in Russia increased by 46 bln cubic meters in January-September, which affected the rates of pumping in European storage facilities, he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has tasked Gazprom with boosting supplies to the company’s European underground storage facilities, after the gas giant completes pumping gas into Russian storage facilities. CEO Alexei Miller assured that Gazprom would fulfill the task.