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Europe's daily LNG imports fall to lowest level in more than 1.5 years

Since the beginning of June, LNG flows from European terminals into the EU gas transmission system have declined by 20% compared with the previous year

MOSCOW, June 23. /TASS/. Europe's daily imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) fell to their lowest level in more than one and a half years by the end of June 2026, despite extreme heat and the need to refill depleted underground gas storage facilities, according to TASS calculations based on data from Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE).

Since the beginning of June, LNG flows from European terminals into the EU gas transmission system have declined by 20% compared with the same period a year earlier. In particular, on June 21, daily LNG imports fell to their lowest level since November 2024, amounting to just 275 mln cubic meters.

Europe is currently experiencing extreme heat. During such summer periods, electricity demand for cooling systems and air conditioning rises sharply. Gas remains one of the main sources of electricity generation alongside nuclear, wind and solar power.

The current summer season will take place amid higher fuel prices due to intensified competition with Asia for available LNG volumes as a result of the Middle East conflict. Gazprom has forecast that gas reserves in Europe's underground gas storage (UGS) facilities may fail to reach even 70% ahead of the next heating season.

European storage facilities are currently 46.72% full, which is 14.46 percentage points below the average for this date over the past five years, compared with 55.8% a year earlier. They currently contain 51 bln cubic meters of gas. Total gas injections into European storage facilities since the beginning of June amount to 7.2 bln cubic meters, down 17% year-on-year. This figure is also 5% below the average storage refill pace for this date over the entire observation period.

Under European Commission requirements, EU countries must ensure that their gas storage facilities are 90% full during the period from October 1 to December 1 each year. In addition, a 10% flexibility margin is allowed in the event of difficult storage refill conditions. Therefore, net injections into European storage facilities ahead of the 2026-2027 fall-winter season must total at least 68 bln cubic meters in order to meet the filling target. A year earlier, Europe managed to reach only about 55 bln cubic meters.

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