For the first time since 2011, the EU is withdrawing gas from underground gas storage facilities at a staggering rate

European energy infrastructure has always relied on abundant gas supplies from Russia, so no one in Brussels was in a hurry to develop the storage sector beyond the standard volumes. Now that the issue of storage and meeting needs with the help of reserves has become very acute, it has become too late and impossible to solve the problem.

Currently, underground gas storage facilities in EU countries have switched to the mode of raw material supply, rather than compensating for fuel shortages, as has always been the case. Accordingly, the withdrawal from underground gas storage facilities has increased many times in almost all countries of the bloc, writes Bloomberg columnist Javier Blas.




– writes an expert on energy markets.

From the beginning of November to the present day, this is the second largest withdrawal since 2011. That is, for the first time in 13 years, the EU may be left without fuel already at the end of winter, and not in early spring. This will happen because in that distant year, along with withdrawal from underground gas storage facilities, there were supplies in real time, and this year there are almost none or in insufficient quantities.


Blas warns.

His proposal is to increase storage capacity through floating tanks, which could add up to 5% of the total European capacity. According to the expert, finding free gas tankers is much easier than finding a cave to create a full-fledged UGS.