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Europe already injected 7 bcm of gas into storage for next winter

Europe’s gas storage facilities are currently 34.51% full, compared with 41.8% a year earlier, containing around 37.8 bln cubic meters of gas

MOSCOW, May 9. /TASS/. Net gas injection (the net difference between injection and withdrawal volumes) by EU countries into underground gas storage (UGS) facilities since the start of the summer season in April 2026 has already exceeded 7 bln cubic meters, according to TASS calculations based on data from Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE).

Europe’s gas storage facilities are currently 34.51% full, compared with 41.8% a year earlier, containing around 37.8 bln cubic meters of gas.

Under European Commission requirements, EU countries must ensure that their gas storage facilities are filled to 90% between October 1 and December 1 each year. In addition, a 10% flexibility margin is allowed in the event of difficult storage-filling conditions. Thus, net gas injection into European storage facilities ahead of the 2026-2027 autumn-winter season must amount to at least 68 bln cubic meters in order to meet the required filling target. A year earlier, Europe managed to achieve a figure of only around 55 bln cubic meters.

The current summer season will likely proceed amid higher fuel prices due to intensified competition with Asia for available liquefied natural gas volumes on the market as a result of the Middle East conflict. Gazprom has forecast that gas reserves in Europe’s underground storage facilities may fail to reach even 70% by the next heating season.

TASS previously reported that Europe effectively concluded its heating season in early April. It became the second-longest heating season on record since observations began in 2011, lasting 173 days. By this measure, it was surpassed only by the 2020-2021 heating season, which lasted an unattainable 190 days. Net gas withdrawals during the past heating season exceeded 61 bln cubic meters, which was 6.5 bln cubic meters more than the volumes injected last summer.

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