MOSCOW, February 27. /TASS/. Gas reserves in the Netherlands’ underground gas storage (UGS) facilities have fallen below 11%, according to data from Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE). For the first time on record, this has occurred so early in February.

As of February 25, gas reserves in Dutch UGS facilities, which are among the largest in Europe in terms of storage capacity, had declined to 10.95%.

Other European countries with the largest gas storage capacities are also actively drawing down their accumulated fuel stocks. Germany’s UGS facilities are filled to just 20.5%, Austria’s - to 36.4%, France’s - to 21%, and Italy’s - to 47.9%. Storage levels stand at 28.8% in Slovakia, 36.5% in Hungary, 31.5% in the Czech Republic, 35.6% in Romania, 43.6% in Bulgaria, 25.1% in Belgium, 26.2% in Denmark, 19.9% in Latvia, and 12.2% in Croatia.

Since the start of the heating season on October 13, EU countries have withdrawn about 64 bln cubic meters of gas from storage. Net withdrawals amount to approximately 58 bln cubic meters, already exceeding the volumes injected during the summer by 4 bln cubic meters. At the same time, cumulative withdrawals from UGS facilities on the 136th day since reaching peak storage levels are 6% above the average for this date over the previous five years.