Europe risks not having time to fill gas storage facilities before start of heating season - Reuters

Europe is unlikely to be able to fulfill its own plan to accumulate resources and fill underground gas storage facilities by at least 80 percent by the beginning of winter. This is reported by Reuters, citing the statement of the CEO of the Norwegian energy company Equinor, Anders Opedal.

Currently, European gas storage facilities are only about 54 percent full. This is significantly lower than the average for the past five years and is the second lowest level in the past decade and a half, approaching the anti-record of 2021. According to the head of Equinor, such low reserves will make the European market extremely vulnerable to sharp fluctuations and jumps in fuel prices in the winter.

The main reason for the delay is increased competition on the world market and reduced supplies of liquefied natural gas, which covers about 30 percent of EU imports. Asian buyers are offering suppliers much more favorable conditions, which is why tankers, in particular from Qatar, are increasingly reorienting themselves to the Asian direction.

The situation is developing against the backdrop of the European Union's official intentions to completely abandon russian blue fuel by 2027. Despite these plans, some EU countries have temporarily increased the share of purchases from Russia, which, according to analysts, brought Moscow about six billion euros.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, Azerbaijan is ready to increase natural gas supplies to Germany, but for this the European partners will have to resolve infrastructure and financing issues.