MOSCOW, February 11. /TASS/. Gas reserves in underground gas storage (UGS) facilities in France, which is among Europe’s top countries in terms of the volume of gas storage capacity, have dropped below 30%, according to data provided by Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE).
As of February 9, French UGS facilities were 29.85% full with around 3.9 bln cubic meters (bcm) of gas stored in them.
Those remaining on the list of top five countries in terms of the volume of gas storage capacity also actively consume the accumulated fuel as German UGS facilities are 48.66% full, Austrian UGS facilities are 58.81% full, Italian UGS are 58.92% full, while in the Netherlands UGS facilities are 33.4% full.
Slovakian UGS are 55.87% full, Hungarian UGS are 52.03% full, Czech UGS are 48.25% full, Romanian UGS are 40.29%, Bulgarian UGS are 49.3% full, Belgian UGS are 35.5% full, while UGS facilities in Denmark, Latvia and Croatia are 41.87%, 52.32% and 29.94% full, respectively.
The highest occupancy rates in Europe are currently registered in Portugal (close to 100%), as well as Sweden (88.05%), Spain (69.14%), and Poland (62.1%).
TASS said earlier citing Gas Infrastructure Europe that gas reserves in Europe’s underground gas storage facilities had fallen below 48.5%, while withdrawal rates in February have been at the highest level for this month in the past four years. Nevertheless, total gas volumes in UGS facilities are still at their fourth-highest level for early February since records started. Europe has withdrawn around 55 bln cubic meters from UGS facilities since the beginning of the heating season.