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Gas injection into Europe’s storage facilities falls 13% in May, reserves at five-year low

Gas withdrawals from European storage facilities in May totaled 863 mln cubic meters, up 1.5% year-on-year

MOSCOW, June 2. /TASS/. Gas injection into European underground gas storage facilities (UGS) fell by 13% year-on-year in May, while gas reserves in storage facilities stood at the lowest level for this period in the past five years at 40%, according to TASS calculations based on Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE) data.

Gas withdrawals from European storage facilities in May totaled 863 mln cubic meters, up 1.5% year-on-year. At the same time, injections into UGS facilities fell to a two-year low of 9.4 bln cubic meters.

At the end of May, Europe’s UGS facilities were 40.5% full, which is 14 percentage points below the average level for this date over the past five years, compared with 48.3% a year earlier. This is the lowest level for this date in the past five years. At the end of the month, EU storage facilities contained around 44.3 bln cubic meters of gas.

Earlier, Gazprom forecast that gas reserves in Europe’s UGS facilities may fail to even reach 70% by the next heating season.

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

Europe has already injected more than 13.5 bln cubic meters of gas into storage facilities ahead of next winter. The current injection season will proceed amid higher fuel prices due to intensified competition with Asia for available liquefied natural gas (LNG) volumes on the market following the escalation of the Middle East conflict.

LNG supplies to Europe

Europe reduced LNG imports in May to the lowest level in the past eight months amid intense competition with Asia.

In May, LNG flows from European terminals into the EU gas transportation system totaled around 11.65 bln cubic meters, down 8% from April and 9.5% lower year-on-year compared with May 2025.

In January-May 2026, LNG inflows from terminals into Europe’s gas transportation system remained at a record high of around 62.5 bln cubic meters, up 5% year-on-year compared with the same period of 2025.

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