Europe’s warehouses have twice as much gas as last February
Natural gas storage in the countries of the European Union (EU), with an approximate capacity of 113,000 million cubic meters, reached 65.22 percent as of February 15, 2023, double that of the same period of the previous year. .
According to information compiled by the AA correspondent for Gas Infrastructure Europe data, the country with the highest occupancy rate for underground natural gas storage in EU countries was Portugal with 98 percent as of February 15.
The EU countries, which consume approximately 400 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year, tried to ensure energy security before winter approached by taking various measures against the possibility of interruption of the flow of natural gas from Russia due to the war in Ukraine, and increased their imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG).
In addition to the contribution of LNG to the countries’ consumption, the mild weather this winter and the record temperatures of October 2022 prevented the rapid decrease in the occupancy rate in warehouses.
Energy saving measures by consumers in Europe and government guidance in this regard also led to lower gas prices and less gas use in stores.
On February 15 of last year, the total occupancy rate of natural gas storage facilities in Europe was calculated at 32.67 percent. On the same day this year, this rate almost doubled to 65.22 percent.
The occupancy rate in warehouses in Germany is currently 72.16%, the Netherlands 89.5%, Poland 77%, Italy 65%, France 51% and Austria 72%.
GAS TANKS IN EUROPE
18 of the 27 EU member states have natural gas storage facilities. The largest gas storage capacity is in Germany, Europe’s dominant economy. The total capacity of Germany’s natural gas deposits is 25.1 billion cubic meters.
This country is followed by Italy with 20.2 billion cubic metres, the Netherlands with 14.7 billion cubic metres, France with 13.2 billion cubic metres, Austria with 9.8 billion cubic metres, and Hungary with 6.9 billion cubic metres. In addition, there is some natural gas storage capacity in countries such as Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Spain, Croatia, Poland and Romania.
The total storage capacity of natural gas in Europe is about 113 billion cubic meters. (AA)