Europe does not realize scale of problems with gas injection into UGS, there are serious risks of shortage in case of cold weather - Gazprom head

MOSCOW. Sept 2 (Interfax) - A number of European countries such as Germany and the Netherlands will find it difficult to reach the target of 90% fullness of underground gas storage (UGS) facilities, which creates serious risks of a gas shortage in the event of sharp or prolonged cold weather, Gazprom's press service quoted the company's head Alexei Miller as saying.

According to Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE) data as of August 31, after five months of gas injection into European UGS, only two thirds of the volume of gas withdrawn from them last winter has been replenished. The gap between the withdrawn and injected volume (as of August 31) is significant - 18.9 billion cubic meters, the second largest on this date in the history of observations, according to the company's calculations.

"It seems that Europe still does not realize the scale of the problem with gas injection into UGS. The current injection dynamics indicate that individual European countries will find it difficult to achieve the target indicator - 90% UGS fullness. For example, Germany and the Netherlands, which are among the top five countries with the largest storage capacity volume in Europe. Currently, Germany's storage facilities are only 71.1% full, the Netherlands' - 64.8%. This creates serious risks of a gas shortage in case of sharp or prolonged cold weather," Miller said.

The problem of the regional gas balance in the Baltics is obvious, Miller said. "The Incukalns UGS, the only one in the region, is only half full, and the average daily gas injection into the storage facility is at a historically minimal level. So preparation for winter has effectively been disrupted. As is known, Europe often has to start the gas withdrawal season from storage in the first half of October. There is less and less time to somehow correct the situation," he said.