European gas storages are already 85% full

MOSCOW, 18 Sep — PRIME. The injection of gas into underground storage facilities (UGS) in Europe continues, they are already 85% full, against the target level for this year of 80%, which had to be reached by November 1, according to the Association of Gas Infrastructure Operators of Europe (Gas Infrastructure Europe, GIE).

According to the data at the end of the gas day on September 16 (ended at 07:00 Moscow time on September 17), European UGSFs were 85.3% full. The increase for the day amounted to 0.35 percentage points (p.p.). In total, the EU underground storage facilities now contain approximately 92.3 billion cubic meters of gas.

According to the GIE, 14 out of 18 EU countries with gas storage facilities have exceeded the 80% target set in Europe in terms of occupancy following a notable increase in gas exchange prices. We are talking about Belgium, Croatia, Romania, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain and Sweden. At the same time, there are 27 states in the EU, therefore, not all of them have UGS facilities for reserve “blue fuel”.

Gas storages usually provide 25-30% of the gas consumed in Europe in winter, the European Commission reported in summer. Even close to the maximum reserves in UGS facilities in large European countries do not guarantee a reliable passage of the upcoming autumn-winter period (WZP) there, Gazprom believes.

The deliveries of the Russian company, meanwhile, remain limited. Thus, the application for pumping towards Ukraine through the Sudzha gas measuring station (GIS) as of September 18 is 42.4 million cubic meters. Since the end of May, the figure has been at the level of 40-42 million. Deliveries through the GIS “Sokhanovka” are not conducted, as Ukraine rejects the application of “Gazprom”.

As for the Nord Stream gas pipeline, its operation has been completely suspended since the end of August, since during scheduled maintenance, malfunctions were detected at the only operating unit of the Portovaya station. As Gazprom reported, the German Siemens examined the problems and expressed its readiness to eliminate them, but because of the Western sanctions, there is nowhere to do this.