European consumers continue to increase the rate of withdrawal from underground gas storage facilities (UGS), drawing approximately 400 million cubic meters per day compared to 340 million the previous day, according to data from the Association of Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE).
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The occupancy of UGS facilities in the EU as of the gas day on January 5 (ended in the morning of January 6) is 85.18%, which is 12.8 percentage points more than the average for this date in 2019-2023, and by 1. 95 p.p. more than last year. In physical terms, the total volume of gas in storage is about 94.3 billion cubic meters. This is about 15.7 billion cubic meters more than the average for this date in the previous five years, and 3.8 billion more than last year.
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The filling level of gas storage facilities since the beginning of the withdrawal season – the first week of November – has now decreased by 14.4 percentage points. European consumers have withdrawn about 16 billion cubic meters of gas in almost two months.
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The rate of withdrawal from gas storage facilities has increased since the beginning of the year. The UGS fill rate for the day dropped by 0.36 percentage points (about 400 million cubic meters) compared to 0.31 percentage points (about 400 million cubic meters) on the previous day.
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The occupancy of gas storage facilities over the past month decreased by 8.3 percentage points (9.2 billion cubic meters). The pace of selection has become the lowest for December since 2019.
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The European Commission noted that gas storage facilities play a key role in ensuring the reliability of gas supplies in Europe, allowing them to cover up to a third of the EU’s needs in winter. The gas storage regulation, adopted to optimize preparations for winter in June 2022, set a mandatory target for EU countries to fill underground gas storage facilities to 90% by November 1. In 2023, the EU reached the target level already in mid-August.
