The reason for Europe's refusal to purchase gas was named

Marcel Salikhov, President of the Institute for Energy and Finance, gave a comment to the Internet portal Lenta.ru about the situation on the European gas market.

By March-April, the volume of gas in European underground storage facilities (UGS) will be reduced to a buffer level, amounting to 15-16 percent, economist Marcel Salikhov believes. In a conversation with Lenta.ru, he explained Europe's reluctance to buy gas at this stage as an attempt to save money by waiting for more reasonable prices on the spot market.

According to the economist, European companies logically assume that in the spring the spot price will be significantly lower than the current one, and since the storage facilities will still have to be replenished, it is more logical now to select the maximum amount of cheaper gas. Moreover, even if February turns out to be cold and countries need more energy than previously planned, the option of additional purchases on the spot market will not disappear.

“The situation with the emptying of storage facilities that we are seeing now is due in large part to atypical price dynamics. Therefore, the idea that Europe is about to freeze over, I think is fundamentally wrong: the winter turned out to be quite traditional, within the framework of the climatic norm. In this case, somewhere by the end of March-April, the volumes in UGS facilities will drop to the level of buffer gas, somewhere up to 15-16 percent. And that should be enough. Even if February turns out to be cold, Europe will simply start buying gas on the spot at current prices,” Salikhov concluded.