EU storage facilities' gas injections decrease by 30%

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
2 Oct 14:05

Data from the Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE) association shows a decrease in the percentage of gas injections into the EU storage facilities to about 0.25 percentage points per day.

EU storage facilities' gas injections decrease to 0.25 percentage points per day (Getty Images)

Data from the Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE) association show that in September, the rate of gas injection into European underground gas storage facilities (UGS) decreased by about 30% to 0.25 percentage points per day.

According to information shared by Sputnik on Sunday, citing Ivan Timonin, an energy analyst with the Russian firm Vygon Consulting, European UGS are at 87.83% of their capacity, holding 95.3 billion cubic meters of gas, while the total capacity is estimated at 110 billion cubic meters.

The expert stated that the EU typically consumed around 250 billion cubic meters of gas throughout the fall and winter seasons. That being said, the present gas reserves would only provide 40% of the bloc's energy demand. The European Commission stated last summer that gas storage facilities account for 25–30% of the total gas consumed in Europe during the winter.

About 75 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) were supplied to European nations in 2021. Given the existing trends, Timonin continued, the amount of LNG supply is predicted to expand by 1.5 times to 120 million tonnes in 2022.

Gas injection average rates into the European UGS comprised 0.45 percentage points in May, 0.37 percentage points in June, 0.36 percentage points in July, and 0.37 percentage points in August.

Typically, mid-October is when Europe's heating season is expected to begin, albeit it was delayed until November the previous year. At the same time, Russian gas deliveries remain restricted since the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 offshore pipelines in the Baltic Sea were damaged by explosions earlier this week and made inoperable.

There is a general agreement across Sweeden, Denmark, Russia, and Germany that the Nord Stream explosions were an act of sabotage against the gas pipelines.

"We have established a report and the crime classification is gross sabotage," the Swedish police representative said on Tuesday, September 27.

In parallel, Ukraine continues to prohibit gas transit through the Sokhranivka entry point, making Sudzha the sole station still supplying Russian gas via Ukraine to Europe.

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