MOSCOW, August 23. /TASS/. The level of gas reserves in European underground storage facilities (UGS) exceeded the maximum level of the previous heating season in the winter of 2021-2022, according to data from Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE).

Gas stocks in Europe's storage facilities, as of August 21, 2022, rose to 77.42%, which is 0.19 percentage points higher than the average figure for this date over the past five years. Currently UGS facilities contain around 83.3 bln cubic meters of gas. In 2021, the maximum volume of gas in storage facilities was seen on October 21 - just over 83 bln cubic meters (77.28%).

It was reported earlier that the price of gas in Europe decreased by 6% on Tuesday and fell below $2,700 per 1,000 cubic meters, according to London’s ICE. The day before, the spot gas price in Europe rose above $3,000 per 1,000 cubic meters for the first time since the beginning of March, in anticipation of the suspension of supplies via Nord Stream for three days starting from August 31 due to repairs of the only gas compressor unit remaining in operation.

In turn, Gazprom did not rule out that gas prices in Europe in winter could rise above the record-breaking $4,000 per 1,000 cubic meters.

Experts interviewed by TASS believe that gas prices could rise to a record-breaking $5,000 per 1,000 cubic meters in winter due to possible cold weather and a reduction in stocks in storage facilities. In their opinion, there is no reasonable limit for spot prices in the market at the moment.

Gazprom reported earlier that over 7.5 months of 2022, it reduced gas exports to non-CIS countries by 36.2% to 78.5 bln cubic meters.

Since July 27, the Nord Stream gas pipeline has been used at 20% of its maximum capacity due to the shutdown of several gas turbines. One of them, made in Canada by Siemens Energy, was sent to Montreal for repairs. Due to Ottawa's sanctions against Moscow, the manufacturer initially refused to return the repaired equipment to Germany, but after numerous requests from Germany, it was decided to return the turbine. On July 25, Gazprom announced the forced shutdown of another gas turbine engine at the Portovaya compressor station. Thus, only one turbine remains in working order.