MOSCOW, July 8. /TASS/. Gas withdrawals from European underground gas storage (UGS) facilities have been proceeding at their fastest pace for July in six years since the beginning of this month due to extreme heat, further complicating the task of building up reserves for the winter, according to TASS calculations based on Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE) data.

Gas withdrawals from UGS facilities since the beginning of the month are 31% higher than last year’s figures and stand at a six-year high. Moreover, the volume of gas withdrawn from storage ranks third-highest for July on record.

European UGS facilities are currently 50.63% full (15.08 percentage points below the five-year average for this date), compared to 60.7% in the previous year. They hold 55.4 bln cubic meters of gas, which is 11.2 bln cubic meters less than last year’s reserves.

The European Commission requests EU members to make sure their UGS facilities are 90% full in the period from October 1 to December 1 of each year, with 10% flexibility allowed in the event of difficult UGS filling conditions. Thus, net injection into European storage facilities by the start of the 2026-2027 autumn-winter period must reach at least 68 bcm to meet the filling standard.

To date, Europe has injected 36.5% of the volume required for the upcoming winter totaling about 25 bln cubic meters into its UGS facilities.