MOSCOW, March 2. /TASS/. Gas withdrawals from European underground storage (UGS) facilities in February were the highest in seven years and the third highest for the month in history, according to TASS calculations based on Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE) data.
Total accumulated gas reserves in the EU at the end of February fell below 39%. At the same time, LNG supplies from terminals to the European gas transmission system also reached a record.
Withdrawal from European UGS facilities in February amounted to 17.7 bln cubic meters, which is almost twice as much as last year and the highest in seven years. This is the third highest figure in the history of observations for this month. Gas injection into storage facilities amounted to 880 mln cubic meters, or 27% less than the figure a year earlier and the lowest since 2018.
Gas reserves in European storage facilities as of February 28 fell to 38.54%, which is 11.57 percentage points lower than the average of the last five years. This is lower than the level not only at the end of the last fall-winter period, but also at the end of the 2010-2011, 2011-2012, 2013-2014, 2018-2019, 2019-2020 and 2022-2023 heating seasons. At the end of last month, they contained less than 43 bln cubic meters of gas.
The heating season in Europe started on October 29, 2024 (10 days earlier than in the last fall-winter season) and since then EU countries have withdrawn more than 66.5 bln cubic meters of gas from storage. The net withdrawal (the difference between the volume of withdrawals and injections) is around 63 bln cubic meters. At the same time, the total gas withdrawal from the UGS facilities on the 123rd day from the moment of reaching the maximum filling is 27% higher than the average value for this day in the previous five years. The most problematic years for the EU were 2018 and 2022, when the reserves in the storage facilities at the end of the heating season in spring dropped to critical levels below 18% and 26%, respectively and it was even necessary to resort to the withdrawal of the so-called buffer gas, which is used to maintain the required pressure in the storage facilities.
The high dynamics of gas withdrawals from storage in February is explained by the cold weather in the first half of the month. In addition, the share of wind power in EU electricity generation was only 13% last month, compared to 21% in January.
At the end of February, the average price of gas in Europe was about $542 per thousand cubic meters (+5% compared to January) - a two-year high. At the same time, gas trading ended the month at $475 per 1,000 cubic meters, which is 18% higher than at the end of January.
LNG supplies from terminals to the European gas transportation system increased slightly in February. According to the results of the past month, they amounted to 10.7 bln cubic meters, which is 2.7% higher than in January and 11% more than in February 2024. This figure became a record for this month for the entire period of observation.
In total, in January - February, LNG supplies from terminals to the European gas transportation system amounted to about 21.2 bln cubic meters, or 4% more than in the same period of 2024.
Gas withdrawal from storage facilities in 2025 ranks first in terms of share among sources of gas receipt by Europe at 43.7%, according to data from the European Network of Gas Transmission System Operators (ENTSOG) as of February 27. In second place with a share of 24.9% are LNG supplies, in third place with 16.7% are supplies from the North Sea (mainly Norwegian gas).
This exceeded the figures for supplies from the East (Russian gas, Ukrainian gas supplies, as well as the withdrawal of their gas from Ukrainian UGS by European companies) (4.5%). Gas supplies from North Africa amounted to 6.6%, from the UK - 1.5%.