MOSCOW, November 24. /TASS/. Insufficient gas reserves in European UGS facilities could threaten consumer gas supplies during severe cold weather, Russian gas giant Gazprom stated.
"Real cold weather has not yet come to Europe, but gas offtakes from underground storage facilities are already breaking records. According to Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE), November 19, 20, and 21 saw the highest daily gas withdrawals from European UGS facilities ever recorded for these days," Gazprom said in a statement.
The overall occupancy rate of European underground gas storage facilities fell below 80% on November 21, which is one of the lowest levels for that date in the past 10 years.
"Several months of winter weather lie ahead. In the event of severe or long-lasting cold weather, insufficient gas reserves in underground gas storage facilities could threaten the reliable supply of gas to European consumers," the Russian holding company noted.
Gazprom noted that this year's gas withdrawal season for European storage facilities began with only 83% of their occupancy rate. In Germany and the Netherlands, which rank first and third in Europe in terms of gas storage capacity, the occupancy rate is 76% and 72%, respectively.
Earlier TASS reported that European underground gas storage facilities are currently 79.1% full (almost 10 percentage points lower than the average for that date over the past five years), compared to 88.3% in 2024. Since the start of the heating season on October 13, EU countries have withdrawn approximately 7.5 billion cubic meters of gas from storage facilities. However, net withdrawals are approximately 4.4 billion cubic meters. Furthermore, total gas withdrawals from underground gas storage facilities on the 41st day since reaching their maximum capacity are 42% lower than the average for that day over the previous five years.