MOSCOW, October 28. /TASS/. In late October, European countries continue to inject small volumes of gas into underground storage facilities (UGS) ahead of the cold season, despite prices hitting a four-year high, according to TASS calculations based on data from Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE).
Meanwhile, several countries have been net-withdrawing gas from European UGS facilities for the second consecutive week - with withdrawal volumes outstripping injections--signaling the gradual start of the heating season in the region.
To date, Europe has managed to inject only 75.5% of the gas volumes required for the upcoming winter, which amounts to 51 billion cubic meters.
As of October 26, European UGS facilities were 74.93% full, down from 82.9% a year earlier and 14.65 percentage points below the five-year average for this date. This remains the lowest level recorded for this date since monitoring began in 2011. EU storage facilities currently hold approximately 82.1 billion cubic meters of gas, which is 9.4 billion cubic meters less than last year and the lowest volume since 2013. Gazprom previously forecast that European gas inventories might fail to reach even the 75% mark, warning of a challenging autumn-winter season for the region.
Earlier TASS reported that Europe risks entering the heating season with record-low gas reserves. By the traditional start of the autumn-winter period, EU nations may only manage to fill their storage capacities to 70-75%, an all-time low for the start of a heating season.
Under European Commission regulations, EU member states must ensure their gas storage facilities are 90% full between October 1 and December 1 each year. A 10% flexibility margin is permitted under difficult filling conditions. Consequently, net injections into European storage facilities must reach at least 68 billion cubic meters to meet the requirement for the 2026-2027 autumn-winter season. However, hoping for a very mild winter, the European Commission is prepared to lower this threshold to 80% this year.