Where is the gas leaking? Europe won't be able to fill its storage facilities by next winter

Alexey Belogoryev, Research and Development Director of the Institute for Energy and Finance, gave an interview to RIA Novosti and the Prime news agency about the dynamics of gas reserves in Italy's UGS.

Italy's underground gas reserves have dropped below 50%, while only about a quarter remain in Germany and other countries. Why did this happen?

Since the Italian energy industry is one of the most gas–dependent in Europe, Italy's UGS capacity is the second in Europe after Germany. 18 billion cubic meters of active gas can be stored there. The design storage capacity covers 29% of Italy's current annual consumption. This is far from an outstanding indicator: it is slightly higher than in Germany, but much lower than in the Netherlands, Hungary or Austria.

This is explained by the fact that these countries, unlike Italy, are major transit hubs, that is, their UGS facilities were created to ensure the flexibility of gas supplies far beyond the country's borders. And Italy is almost on its own in this sense. In addition, Italy is one of the most gas–rich countries in Europe in terms of import diversification. Pipelines from Algeria, Libya, Azerbaijan and northern Europe, and from Russia until 2025, stretch to it. It also has seven regasification terminals for receiving LNG. In 2025, according to preliminary data, their utilization reached an unprecedented 86%.

Will Italy become Europe's "gas donor" by the end of winter?

It will not happen in the EU-wide market. But it participates in balancing individual neighboring markets, primarily Austria, Slovenia and partly Germany. Italy’s support is especially significant for Austria. However, these are relatively small flows.