Europe Drains Gas Reserves at Unprecedented Rate Amid Low Storage Levels
According to the International Desk of Webangah News Agency, European countries are depleting their underground gas reserves at an unprecedented rate as the cold season begins, having withdrawn 4.15 billion cubic meters of gas since the start of the season. Based on Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE) data, Europe commenced the winter period with gas reserves at their lowest recorded levels.
Just 13 days after underground gas storage levels in Europe reached their autumn peak of 74.96 percent, withdrawal volumes have surged to 2.1 times the five-year average. Furthermore, daily gas withdrawal records were set on seven occasions during this period. Since the beginning of the cold season on October 28, net gas withdrawals from European storage facilities, defined as the difference between withdrawal and injection volumes, have reached 3.4 billion cubic meters, triple the five-year average. Consequently, European nations have consumed 6.6 percent of the 51.2 billion cubic meters of gas they had stored for the winter season.
Data from November 9 indicates that underground gas storage levels in Europe have fallen to 72 percent. This figure is 17.26 percentage points below the five-year average for the same date and lower than last year’s level of 82.55 percent. These are the lowest gas reserve levels for Europe on this date since records began in 2011. The volume of gas in the European Union’s underground storage facilities has also dropped to below 79 billion cubic meters, which is 12.3 billion cubic meters less than last year and the lowest amount since 2013.
The European Commission mandates that member states fill their gas storage facilities to 90 percent capacity annually between October 1 and December 1. However, a 10 percent flexibility in this target is permissible if storage conditions prove challenging. Accordingly, to meet the required storage levels for the 2026-2027 autumn and winter seasons, at least 68 billion cubic meters of gas should have been injected into European storage. Nevertheless, this year, the European Commission had announced its readiness to reduce the storage target to 80 percent, anticipating a particularly warm winter. Europe ultimately failed to achieve even this adjusted target.
