28 Mar, 10:05

Gas withdrawal from Europe’s UGS in March approaches historical average

The previous gas withdrawal season from European UGS facilities ended on March 31, 2024, with 58.44% of reserves remaining (a record high for the observation period)

MOSCOW, March 28. /TASS/. Gas withdrawal from Europe’s underground storage (UGS) facilities has stabilized at around 200 mln cubic meters per day, delaying the conclusion of the heating season in the region, according to data from Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE). The withdrawal rate in March is one-third higher than last year’s figures and is approaching the historical average since observations began in 2011.

On March 26, gas withdrawal from UGS in EU countries reached 198 mln cubic meters, according to GIE. Injections into storage dropped to 88 mln cubic meters. Despite high gas consumption rates during the heating season, the total volume of gas in storage is the sixth-largest for March on record, amounting to 37.3 bln cubic meters.

The previous gas withdrawal season from European UGS facilities ended on March 31, 2024, with 58.44% of reserves remaining (a record high for the observation period). Currently, Europe’s UGS are filled to 33.62%, which is 11.58 percentage points lower than the five-year average for this date. In relative terms, this is already lower than the levels recorded not only at the end of the previous fall-winter period but also at the conclusion of the heating seasons of 2010-2011, 2011-2012, 2013-2014, 2015-2016, 2018-2019, 2019-2020, and 2022-2023.

The 2024 heating season in Europe began on October 29 (10 days earlier than the previous fall-winter season), and since then, EU countries have withdrawn more than 74 bln cubic meters of gas from storage. The net withdrawal exceeds 68.5 bln cubic meters.

The first half of the current week in Europe has been warmer than the previous one, though a slight cooling may occur by the weekend. The share of wind generation in electricity production in the EU was 13% on average in February and 16% in March. The average purchase price of gas in Europe in February 2024 was about $542 per 1,000 cubic meters, while in March it was around $469.

LNG arrivals at terminals in Europe’s gas transportation system have been at record-high rates for this month. Currently, the regasification capacity for liquefied gas and its subsequent injection into Europe’s pipelines is operating at 57% of its maximum capacity.

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