Gas withdrawal from underground storages hits new record in Europe

In January 2021, gas withdrawal from underground storage (UGS) facilities reached 25.49 billion cubic meters in Europe, setting a new historical record, Report informs, citing the Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE) association.

The previous maximum of 24.18 billion cubic meters was recorded in January 2017. The GIE database covers the period from 2011, but previously, the capacity of the UGS facilities was much smaller, as were any possible withdrawal rates.

At the end of January, European UGS facilities were already 51.6% full, which is noticeably lower than the average for the last five years (53.83%). In recent years, this indicator was lower on the same date only in 2017 and 2018.

This week, the saturation level of European UGS facilities is expected to go below 50%.