British News Agency

According to gas day data for January 18, the storage fill rate in Europe stood at 49.8%. This is 11.2 percentage points lower than a year ago and 14.6 points below the five-year average for this date.

The only period with lower daily figures was 2022, when Europe grappled with an energy crisis due to adverse weather conditions, limited supply from major suppliers, and high demand for liquefied natural gas in Asia.

European storage facilities currently contain about 50.6 billion cubic meters of natural gas.

Based on an analysis of GIE data by RIA Novosti, Europe has been withdrawing about one and a half times more gas from underground storage since the beginning of January compared with the same dates over the past five years.

Russia’s gas supplier Gazprom has noted since November that gas withdrawals from Europe’s underground storage facilities have reached record levels and warns that insufficient reserves during severe or prolonged cold spells could threaten reliable gas supplies to European consumers.

Gas withdrawals from Europe’s underground storage facilities typically continue until late March or mid-April.