MOSCOW, March 20. /TASS/. Net withdrawals (the difference between withdrawals and injections) of gas from Europe’s underground gas storage (UGS) facilities have exceeded 60 bln cubic meters (bcm) since the start of the heating season, according to data from Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE).

Withdrawals from UGS on March 18 amounted to approximately 203 million cubic meters, while injections totaled 76 mcm. The cumulative volume of withdrawals from storage since the beginning of the month is the lowest in 13 years and the fourth lowest since observations began in 2011. The total volume of gas currently in storage stands at about 31.7 bcm.

At present, Europe’s UGS facilities are 28.66% full, which is 12.65 percentage points below the average for this date over the past five years. The absolute minimum level of gas in European storage was recorded in March 2018 at 17.7%.

Since the start of the heating season on October 13, 2025, EU countries have withdrawn more than 68 bcm of gas from storage. Net withdrawals have exceeded 60 bcm, which is already 5.4 bcm more than the volumes injected during the summer. EU countries had already used up all the gas injected into storage during the summer by mid-February and are now drawing on reserves accumulated in previous years.