The EU countries continue to pump gas into their underground storage facilities (UGS) and have approached the 90% mark, Report informs, citing the data of the Association of Gas Infrastructure Operators of Europe (Gas Infrastructure Europe, GIE).
According to the results of the gas day on October 2 (ended on the morning of October 3), European UGS facilities were filled by 89.32%, or by 96.53 billion cubic meters. The increase amounted to 0.35 percentage points for the day.
At the same time, gas injection rates increased as usual over the weekend: while on weekdays they averaged 0.19 percentage points last week, on Saturday and Sunday they rose to 0.26 percentage points and 0.35 percentage points, respectively.
Under the EU rules, all countries must fill the UGS by at least 80% by November 1 this year. This figure has not yet been reached in Bulgaria (76.31%), Hungary (74.08%), Latvia (52.75%). Only 18 out of 27 EU countries have underground gas storage facilities.
Earlier, the European Commission reported that UGS provide only 25-30% of the gas consumed in Europe in winter.