Whether Europe is ready for the second winter without Russian gas

Forbes published an article "Whether Europe is ready for the second winter without Russian gas" with comments by Alexey Belogoryev, Research and Development Director of the Institute for Energy and Finance.

The European Commission reports that European gas storage facilities are almost full, and explains this result primarily by the active transition to liquefied natural gas (LNG), as well as by the fact that households have adjusted energy consumption. The EU has set a goal to fill gas storage facilities by 90% by November 1, but reached this volume by August 18.

The gas balance in the EU market is determined by the ratio of consumption, current imports and accumulated reserves in underground gas storage facilities (UGS), Alexey Belogoryev says in an interview with Forbes:

"All three indicators speak in favor of a painless passage of the heating season. Reserves as of September 12 are already 93.9% of the nominal capacity — at the level of a record 2019, when reserves were accumulated in case of the Ukrainian transit’s stop. The increase in stocks has slowed down in recent weeks, which is quite natural, but continues quite cheerfully, theoretically, by the beginning of October it can be brought to 100%. At the same time, since July, gas injection into Ukrainian UGS by European traders has sharply intensified. Despite certain problems in Norway (related to planned repairs at gas production facilities), the supply of gas from other sources, including LNG, remains stable, and there is no reason why the situation may fundamentally change."