(Finance) – European countries continue to use their underground gas storage (UGS) reserves, maintaining record withdrawal rates in November, according to data from Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE). As we read on the Energy Press Agency Oltre, since the beginning of the heating season, Europe has already withdrawn over 10.5 billion cubic meters from UGS. The heating season in Europe began on November 29, 2024, ten days earlier than the previous autumn-winter season.
THE PRICE OF GAS IN EUROPE – At the moment the price of gas on the stock exchange in Europe is around 46 euros per MWh. According to GIE https://www.gie.eu/, on November 27, gas withdrawal from underground plants in EU countries amounted to 440 million cubic meters. The pumping amounted to 16 million cubic meters.
THE LEVEL OF EU GAS STORAGE – European plants are currently 86.65% full (2.28 percentage points less than the average for this date over the last five years), with 96.2 billion cubic meters of gas stored inside them. Overall withdrawal from plants reached its highest level in November, while pumping fell to 2016 lows.
THE EU INTERMEDIATE OBJECTIVES FOR STORAGE FILLING IN 2025 – Today the European Commission adopted intermediate targets that Member States are required to meet in 2025 to ensure that storage facilities are filled to at least 90% of capacity by 1 November 2025. The implementing regulation sets out the targets for on 1 February, 1 May, 1 July and 1 September 2025 for Member States with underground storage facilities on their territory and for Member States which are connected via the gas network. These objectives are the minimum thresholds that EU countries must respect to guarantee security of supply through stocked storage facilities for the winter of 2025-2026.
LNG SUPPLIES – Total LNG supplies from terminals to the European gas transportation system in November recorded the lowest level for this month since 2021 so far. Plants for the regasification of liquefied gas and its further pumping into European pipelines are now loaded to 45% of their capacity.
GAS FLOWS TO EUROPE THROUGH UKRAINE – Russian gas exports to Europe via Ukraine remained stable today, as did applications for supply to Austria from Slovakia. This was communicated by the supplier Gazprom and the system operator Eustream. Russia in mid-November cut off supplies to Austrian energy company OMV due to a contract dispute, but overall gas exports to Austria remained stable as other companies stepped up their purchases.
US SANCTIONS ON GAZPROMBANK – Supply to Europe was also complicated by US sanctions against Gazprombank, which processes payments for European customers. According to the sanctions, all these transactions must be completed by December 20.
According to Eustream, applications for flows to Austria from Slovakia were in line with the volumes seen in the last three days. Applications from Slovakia to the Czech Republic increased, but in line with the levels seen this month. Applications for flows from Ukraine into Slovakia increased slightly, but in line with the levels seen this month, while applications for flows out of Slovakia remained mostly stable.