The European Union's underground gas storage facilities are already 90% full, "well ahead of schedule", which ordinarily calls for them to be filled by 1 November, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced on Friday.
"This will help us be safe this winter. Together, we are weaning ourselves off Russian gas. And we keep working in parallel on more diverse energy supplies for the future," the head of the European executive announced on X (formerly Twitter).
Last year, the EU adopted a regulation aimed at ensuring that gas storage capacities in the EU are filled before the winter season and can be shared between the Member States, in a spirit of solidarity. There has been significant disruption to the international gas market due to Russia's war in Ukraine.
As such, gas reserves on the territory of Member States had to be filled to 80% of their capacity by 1 November at the latest, and 90% before the following winter.
Last year, this 90% target was exceeded in early October and, after a particularly warm winter in Europe, stocks stood at 56% at the end of March 2023, above the 40% threshold considered critical at that time to be able to secure supplies.
At the end of the winter of 2021-2022, the rate was only 25.66%. This was just a few weeks after the start of Russian's invasion of Ukraine. The EU was initially forced to fill its reserves with large volumes of costly Russian gas. Revenues from natural resources help fund Russia's aggression in Ukraine.
source: Belga
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