MOSCOW, January 14. /TASS/. Gas reserves in Europe’s underground gas storage (UGS) facilities continue to decline and are approaching historic lows, Gazprom said.
"Gas reserves in Europe’s underground gas storage facilities are approaching historic lows. According to Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE), as of January 12, the fill level of Europe’s UGS facilities fell to 53%, with 53.9 bln cubic meters of gas remaining. This is 4.1 bln cubic meters less than on the same date during the 2017-2018 winter season, the most severe for European storage facilities. At that time, a record volume of gas was withdrawn, and remaining reserves fell to the lowest level observed over the entire period of monitoring," the holding said in a statement.
As of January 12, the fill level of underground gas storage facilities in the Netherlands had already dropped below 40% to 39.5%. Gas reserves in Dutch storage facilities were lower only during the 2021-2022 season.
Earlier, TASS reported that gas reserves in Europe’s UGS facilities had fallen to 53.17%. During the previous heating season, such a level was recorded only in early February. Since the start of the heating season on October 13, EU countries have withdrawn more than 37 bln cubic meters of gas from storage facilities. Net withdrawals, where total bln exceed injections, have reached 33 bln cubic meters.