Europe's gas surplus almost eliminated by slow storage injections

Europe's record gas surplus at the end of last year's warm winter was almost eliminated by the unusually slow pace of gas storage injections over the summer. Reuters reported.

Gas stocks in European storage facilities increased by just 336 TWh between 31 March 2024 and mid-August. That is more than 100 TWh below the average for the past 10 years.

Thanks to the high level of storage after last winter, the volume of stored gas was still 170 TWh above the 10-year average in mid-August. However, the surplus had fallen by 107 TWh compared with the end of March this year.

The record volume of gas stored in European facilities at the end of last winter meant that injections over the summer would have to proceed much more slowly to prevent storage facilities from filling up too quickly ahead of this winter. According to Reuters, this has now been practically achieved.

The risk of storage facilities becoming overfilled has been eliminated

Gas stocks in EU countries and the United Kingdom stood at 1 006 TWh on 12 August, slightly below last year's 1 024 TWh. Even so, European gas storage facilities are already more than 90% full.

If storage injections continue over the coming weeks at the rate expected based on the previous 10 years, stocks would reach 1 173 TWh before withdrawals begin around the turn of October and November, according to Reuters. That is more than the facilities' technical capacity of 1 149 TWh.

However, given developments in recent weeks, the risk of storage facilities becoming overfilled before the end of the summer injection season has now been practically eliminated, according to Reuters.