The level of underground gas storage reserves in Europe has fallen below 85%, and about 20 billion cubic metres of gas have been consumed since the beginning of the heating season. This was reported by TASS with reference to data from Gas Infrastructure Europe.
The withdrawal from gas underground storage facilities in Europe for the heating season showed a result of almost 20 billion cubic metres, while the total UGS reserves have decreased and are below 85%. A serious cold snap is forecast for the EU this week, which could accelerate the pace of fuel consumption. In Europe, LNG arrivals in January are on par with last month’s figures. “Gazprom supplies 42.4 million cubic metres of gas per day for Europe in transit through Ukraine via the Suja GIS.
The transit flow through Ukraine is currently the only route for Russian gas to European countries since the disruptions at Nord Stream. There have been reduced deliveries through Ukrainian territory since May 2022, when Ukraine’s GTS Operator announced that transit to Europe through the Sohranivka station had been halted due to an unforeseen situation.
In 2022, Naftogaz Ukrainy filed a petition for arbitration with the International Court of Arbitration against Gazprom to stop alleged problems with payment for gas transported through Ukraine. Gazprom’s head Aleksey Miller responded to the lawsuit by saying that in this case the court proceedings were illegitimate and Russian participation in the process was meaningless. He specified that in case of unfair statements towards the Russian side, Naftohaz risked being subject to sanctions, which would make its interaction with Russia impossible.
Earlier, the British newspaper The Telegraph quoted Eurostat as saying that despite the sanctions against Russia, the EU countries imported €6.1bn worth of Russian liquefied natural gas in 2023 – more than half of all exports from Russia.