Energy companies turn to Ukraine to store gas as EU nears capacity
The EU’s stores of natural gas are nearing full capacity, leading the bloc’s energy companies to park excess reserves in Ukraine ahead of the peak demand of the winter months, writes Financial Times.
According to figures from Gas Infrastructure Europe, the EU’s chambers are now almost 99 per cent full, surpassing Brussels’ target of 90 per cent of storage capacity by November.
The figure indicates that the region has stored far more gas to date this year than some had feared in the aftermath of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, because of continued imports of liquefied natural gas and reduced demand.
That makes the EU less vulnerable to an energy shock, although it falls far short of a guarantee that the continent will have all the energy it needs for the coming winter.
“The risk of a gas shortage in Europe is low for this winter, barring any major unplanned supply disruptions or long, deep cold snaps that hit Europe and Asia at the same time,” said Natasha Fielding, head of European gas pricing at Argus, a price reporting agency. “Europe has stocked up as well as it possibly could.”
By contrast, the International Energy Agency, the west’s energy watchdog, warned last year that storage facilities in Europe risked being only two-thirds full by now.
With EU storage almost at capacity, companies are increasingly turning to Ukraine, home to Europe’s largest tanks, to store their reserves, pushing the amount of natural gas held in the country to its highest level since Russia’s invasion last year.
