A few days before the end of the winter gas season, which runs until 31 March, European gas storage facilities are 59% full. This is a record high for this time of year, reports Komersant ukrainskyi citing Reuters.
European gas prices have fallen to levels seen before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, hitting a three-year low in February this year. Mild weather and high levels of renewable energy production have reduced gas demand in Europe.
However, Europeans are concerned that the contract between Ukraine and Russia for gas transit to Europe expires this year, and Ukraine has already announced that it is not going to renew it. In these circumstances, the EU must take special care of energy security.
“Europe is heading for another record high level of stocks at the start of summer, and it looks like the continent will once again be on track to fill its storage facilities early (for next winter),”
– said James Waddell of Energy Aspects, a consultancy.
Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the European Union has a rule that European gas storage facilities must be 90% full by 1 November. The current high stocks are expected to provide Europe with good opportunities to secure supplies next winter and avoid sharp price shocks.
In 2024, Gazprom typically transported about 40 million cubic metres of gas per day to Europe via transit routes in Ukraine. Around half of this gas goes to Austria and Slovakia, which remain the weakest link in the European energy system as they are still dependent on Russian gas. However, both countries said they are working to diversify their supplies.
Read also:
The European Parliament has prepared a new "compromise" on trade with Ukraine
Ukraine receives another tranche from the IMF
Full recovery of DniproHES will take several years - Ukrhydroenergo CEO