The European Union is depleting its gas storage facilities at the fastest rate since the energy crisis three years ago, driven by increased demand due to cold weather and a decline in sea-borne imports, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.

The volume of gas in storage sites across the EU has dropped by about 19% from the end of September, when the gas refill season ended, to mid-December this year, the newspaper emphasized, citing data from Gas Infrastructure Europe.

In contrast, the past two years saw only single-digit declines during the same period, as higher-than-usual temperatures helped keep storage levels relatively full until the winter heating season, and industrial demand was tempered by high prices.

Natasha Fielding, Head of European Gas Pricing at Argus Media, explained that "Europe has had to rely much more on its underground stores so far this winter than in the past two years to make up for lower liquefied natural gas imports and to meet stronger demand."

The Financial Times noted that Europe has also faced increased competition for liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports from Asian buyers, who were drawn to prices that have become lower than in recent years.

It noted that this has led to a slowdown in imports and a greater need to withdraw from stored reserves.

The newspaper highlighted that the last time gas storage facilities were depleted at this pace by mid-December was in 2021 when Russia began cutting off gas supplies via pipelines before entering its war with Ukraine.

Trump tells EU to buy US oil, gas or face tariffs: Financial Times

Last week, the Financial Times reported that US President-elect Donald Trump has warned the EU that it must agree to purchase "large scale" amounts of US oil and gas or face tariffs.

“I told the European Union that they must make up their tremendous deficit with the United States by the large-scale purchase of our oil and gas. Otherwise, it is TARIFFS all the way!!!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Friday.

Trump's threat comes after Brussels had already expressed interest in purchasing more US-liquefied natural gas, which has become crucial for the EU following Russia's reduction of fossil fuel supplies after it invaded Ukraine.

In November, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stated that the EU would consider increasing its purchase of gas from the US, according to FT.

“We still get a lot of LNG from Russia and why not replace it with American LNG, which is cheaper for us and brings down our energy prices,” she told reporters.

“It seems odd as a ‘threat’ given that von der Leyen alluded to the possibility of doing precisely this,” one EU official observed.

Read more: EU imports more Russian gas than US for the first time in two years