Page 43 - RusRPTJul22

2.13 European gas storage tanks half full, Gazprom cuts supplies
Gazprom cuts supplies of gas as Europe races to fill its storage tanks. These crossed the halfway mark on June 7 and are now 51.12% full, as the EU seeks to replenish its supplies ahead of the coming winter. That race became even more poignant after Russia’s state-owned gas behemoth Gazprom cut supplies to Europe, claiming Siemen’s failure to return compressor units on time has forced the Russian company to reduce supplies by 60%.
The pumping of gas into European underground gas storage facilities in May not only reached a record level for this month, but hit the highest level since records started in 2011, according to Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE). LNG imports to Europe also reached a record level last month.
Some 15.6bn cubic metres of gas were pumped into European storage facilities in May, up by 52% compared with last year’s pumping in the same period and by 11.5% compared with the previous record of May 2018.
Europe went into last year’s heating season, which starts on October 1, with the lowest levels of gas in storage in many years. Tanks were only 74% full on October 1, 2021 against the 80%-95% that was usual in previous years.
43 RUSSIA Country Report October 2020 www.intellinews.com