The European Union has launched a campaign to fill gas storage facilities
13 April 13:11
Europe has officially launched a campaign to inject gas into underground storage facilities, replenishing reserves following massive gas consumption during the coldest winter of the current decade.
This is reported by "Komersant Ukrainian" citing Interfax-Ukraine.
Europe entered the 2025–2026 heating season with insufficiently replenished reserves following a relatively mild previous winter. Only 82.6% of the 90% target was achieved. Throughout the cold season, gas consumption was very high, and only the early warm weather in March prevented new record lows in storage levels.
Gas stocks in EU UGS facilities reached the lowest level of the withdrawal season (27.66%) at the end of the gas day on March 31, after which a steady increase in stocks began. In the early days of the transition from net withdrawal to net injection, fluctuations in the trend are possible due to weather conditions and varying industrial demand on weekdays and weekends. The trend toward net withdrawal was confirmed both by the system operating in injection mode on full working days last week and by the arrival of the coldest day since the beginning of April (the 10th).
The average level of gas stocks in Europe’s underground storage facilities (UGS) rose to 29.34% as of the end of the gas day on April 11, according to data from Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE), the association of European gas infrastructure operators. This is 13 percentage points below the average for the past five years.
The transition window from withdrawal to injection in the European gas industry spans the last ten days of March and the first two ten-day periods of April. On March 23, European Commissioner for Energy Dan Jørgensen issued a special statement urging European gas operators to begin injection as soon as possible. Especially since GIE’s records show that in 2018, injection began on March 22 (the earliest start date in the association’s history of observations since 2011).
“It is already necessary to take steps to prepare for winter, and to do so in a coordinated manner. Starting storage as early as possible will allow for a longer injection period and enable adaptation to market conditions, thereby easing pressure on prices and avoiding a rush at the end of summer,” the European Commission quoted him as saying.
Gas Infrastructure Europe brings together operators active in the transportation and storage of natural gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG). The statistical database covers the operation of underground natural gas storage facilities since 2011 and the reception and regasification of LNG since 2012.
