Despite the absence of cold weather, gas withdrawals from underground storage facilities (UGS) in Europe are already reaching record levels, the Russian energy company Gazprom said.
The text of the statement was published by the company’s press service on Monday, November 24.
The document notes that European countries are rapidly consuming natural gas from their UGS facilities, and the level of storage capacity by November 21 dropped to 80%. It is emphasized that this figure is one of the lowest for this date in the last ten years.
“There are several months of winter ahead. In the event of severe or prolonged cold weather, insufficient gas reserves in underground gas storage facilities may jeopardize the reliability of gas supply to European consumers,” the statement says.
As the company’s press service noted, before the conflict in Ukraine, Gazprom was the largest supplier of natural gas to Europe. Thanks to years of pipeline investments, its market share reached 40% by 2022.