Underground storage facilities (USGs) in Europe are now almost 43% full, which is still 24.2 billion cubic meters (34%) lower than the previous year, according to Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE). At the same time, imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from EU countries continue at a record pace.
On May 11, according to GIE, gas injected into underground gas storage facilities in EU countries amounted to 407 billion cubic meters. Selection decreased to 13 million cubic meters. Selection in May was 38% lower than the previous year, and injection was 28% higher. Against the backdrop of high rates of gas reserve consumption during the past heating season, the total fuel volume in the underground gas storage is only the sixth largest for the beginning of May for the entire observation period - 46.9 billion cubic meters of gas (-34% compared to the previous year).
Currently, underground gas storage facilities in Europe are filled to 42.87% (10.08 percentage points lower than the average for this date over the past five years) compared to 64.8% a year earlier. According to the requirements of the European Commission, EU countries must ensure that their gas storage facilities are filled to 90% by November 1 of each year. At the same time, this requirement further increases gas prices on the European market.
Net gas injection in Europe during the upcoming underground gas storage filling season should amount to at least 61 billion cubic meters to meet the filling standard. This is almost 50% higher than the net injection a year earlier and is one of the highest values in history.
Gazprom has previously predicted that Europe will have difficulty filling its storage facilities for the winter. The region will need more gas to replenish its reserves this summer and, with limited new capacity coming on stream, will have to compete for liquefied natural gas (LNG) with Asia, whose demand for the fuel is growing. The Gas Exporting Countries Forum expects the EU to face significant difficulties in filling its underground gas storage facilities to 90% by winter and predicts that summer gas exchange prices will be higher than they were in winter, which will undermine the economic viability of pumping gas into storage.
The heating season in Europe ended on 28 March after lasting 151 days. During this time, EU countries have withdrawn more than 74 billion cubic meters of gas from storage facilities. Net withdrawal (the difference between withdrawal and injection volumes) amounted to approximately 69 billion cubic meters. Thus, total gas withdrawal from underground gas storage at the end of the heating season was 44% higher than the previous year's value, and net withdrawal was 54%.
This week in Europe is expected to be slightly warmer than the previous one. The share of wind energy in electricity production in the EU was on average 14% in April and 14% in May. The average purchase price of gas in Europe in April this year was around 409 USD per 1000 billion cubic meters, and in May - 398 USD.
During the past heating season, Europe imported almost 63 billion cubic meters of liquefied natural gas, which is the third highest value for this period. Larger volumes of regasified gas have been supplied from LNG terminals to the EU gas transmission system only in the two previous winter seasons.
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports into Europe in April were the highest ever recorded (12.8 billion cubic meters). Regasification capacities are currently loaded to 54% of their maximum. Liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports this month are 46% higher than the same month last year and are again at record levels.