PARIS, October 5. /TASS/. The European Union’s gas storage facilities are almost 90% full now, European Commission (EC) President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday, adding that Europe had compensated the decrease in Russian supplies by an increase in deliveries from the US and Norway.
"Gas storage is almost at 90% by now, which is 15% higher than on the same day last year," she said.
The share of Russian gas in the European imports totaled 41% at the beginning of this year, having dropped to 7.5% by now, the EC’s president noted. "We have compensated the decrease in Russian supplies by a massive increase by our trusted suppliers, for example, the United States, for example, Norway," she said.
European countries have cut gas consumption by 10% since March, which von der Leyen called a good result and urged to further pursue the line. Moreover, she welcomed the participation of all EU members in a single mechanism of gas purchases in a move to avoid a new wave of global price growth and destabilization of the European economy.
"I really think it is necessary that we come to an agreed corridor of prices to stop these crazy peaks we have in gas prices," President of the European Commission said. "We will step up our negotiations with trusted partners, for example, with Norway, to dampen the price we pay for gas," she noted.