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Reserves in EU’s UGS below 83 bcm, withdrawal 27% higher than multiyear average

The heating season started in Europe on November 14

MOSCOW, January 26. /TASS/. Gas reserves in Europe’s underground gas storage (UGS) facilities have decreased below 83 bln cubic meters, stably remaining all-time high for this season due to favorable weather. Withdrawal from UGS facilities has almost reached the highest level since December 2022, turning out 27% higher than the multiyear average. That said, requests for transit of Russian gas through Ukrainian territory remain lower, having lost 44% since the beginning of January.

Gas withdrawal from EU countries’ UGS facilities amounted to 776 mln cubic meters on January 24 (the maximum level for the day in the past three years), according to data provided by Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE). Meanwhile, the pumping into them equaled 15 mln cubic meters.

The heating season started in Europe on November 14. Since then, EU countries have withdrawn 25 bln cubic meters of gas from UGS facilities. Currently European UGS facilities are 76.35% full (20.05 percentage points higher than the average as of this date in the past five years), with 82.73 bln cubic meters of gas stored in them.

Requests for transit of Russian gas to Europe through Ukraine for January 26 remain at lower level of 24.2 mln cubic meters via the Sudzha gas distribution station, according to data released on the website of the Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine (GTSOU). Consequently, gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine have dropped by 44% since the beginning of January. Previously they remained at 42-43 mln cubic meters per day. The transit line through Ukraine remains the only route to supply Russian gas to western and central European countries after Nord Stream was damaged.

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