Europe's gas reserves exceed 88% but lag behind 2023 record levels

Gas reserves in European underground storage facilities (UGS) have surpassed 88%, but they still trail behind the record levels of 2023 when UGS were nearly 89.5% full, Azernews reports, citing foreign media.

Gas prices on the European exchange are trading at around $440 per 1,000 cubic meters due to the situation with gas transit through Ukraine amidst the ongoing military actions in the Kursk region.

According to data from Gas Infrastructure Europe, gas injection into EU storages on August 13 amounted to 326 million cubic meters, while withdrawal equaled 26 million cubic meters.

Currently, Europe's UGS are 88.24% full (8.13 percentage points higher than the average for this date over the past five years), containing 97.1 billion cubic meters of gas.

The weather during this week in Central and Western Europe is proving to be as warm as the previous week. The share of wind power generation in the EU's electricity production in August has dropped to 11%.

Total liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies from terminals to Europe's gas transmission system in July were the lowest since November 2021, and the downward trend continues in August. Currently, LNG regasification capacities and its further injection into European pipelines are loaded at 35% of the maximum. The average gas purchase price in Europe in July was $366 per 1,000 cubic meters, and in August, it rose to $432.