Europe has already injected 15 bln cubic meters of gas into storage for next winter

MOSCOW, June 8. /TASS/. Net gas injections by EU countries into underground gas storage facilities (UGS) since the start of the summer season in April 2026 have already exceeded 15 bln cubic meters, according to TASS calculations based on data from Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE).

Europe’s underground gas storage facilities are currently 42.1% full, compared with 50.5% a year earlier, with 46 bln cubic meters of gas in storage.

Under European Commission requirements, EU countries must ensure that their gas storage facilities are filled to 90% between October 1 and December 1 each year. In addition, a 10% flexibility margin is allowed in the event of difficult storage refill conditions. Thus, net injections into European storage facilities ahead of the 2026-2027 autumn-winter season must amount to at least 68 bln cubic meters in order to meet the filling target. A year earlier, Europe managed to achieve only around 55 bln cubic meters.

The current summer season will take place amid higher fuel prices due to intensified competition with Asia for available liquefied natural gas volumes on the market as a result of the Middle East conflict. Gazprom has forecast that gas reserves in Europe’s underground storage facilities may fail to even reach 70% ahead of the next heating season.

As TASS previously reported, Europe completed the heating season in early April. It became the second-longest heating season since records began in 2011 and lasted 173 days. In this regard, it was surpassed only by the 2020-2021 heating season, which lasted an unmatched 190 days. Net withdrawals during the past heating season exceeded 61 bln cubic meters, which was 6.5 bln cubic meters more than the volumes injected last summer.