2024-04-06 04:41:33
The European Union may end the gas withdrawal season with a new record for reserves in storage facilities, according to GIE data. This may give the EU confidence in the issue of refusing gas from Russia, experts say, but so far its imports have not decreased, Day.Az reports with reference to RBC.
EU underground storage facilities, according to the end of the gas day on March 24, are 59.18% full, with about 65.62 billion cubic meters accumulated in them. m of gas, follows from data from the European Association of Gas Infrastructure Operators (Gas Infrastructure Europe, GIE). The indicator is the highest on this date in the entire history of observations (since 2011) and is 17.6 percentage points (pp) higher than the average level over the past five years. If the current selection rate is maintained, that is, 0.14 p.p. per day, by the end of March it will also be a record 58.2%, RBC calculations show. The European Union set the previous record in 2023, when at the end of March the storage facilities were 55.84% full and contained about 61 billion cubic meters. m of gas.
While UGS facilities in the EU continue to operate in net extraction mode, less gas is pumped into them per day than is removed. However, the heating season is nearing its end, usually at the end of March – beginning of April, GIE data indicate.
This March’s data exceeded the forecasts of the European Union itself. In January, Bloomberg, citing a presentation by the European Commission, reported that at the end of March, the occupancy of underground gas storage facilities would be 54% if EU countries continue to adhere to the goal of reducing demand by 15% to the five-year average level. In its materials, the EC also warned that in the medium term it “remains impossible” for Europe to return to normal demand.
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