The average daily rate of gas withdrawal from European underground gas storage facilities (UGS) during the current heating season has become the second highest in the history of observations. Europe will have difficulty filling UGS facilities this summer and preparing for winter, Gazprom said in a statement.
“Given the reduction in reliable sources of gas supply, it will be difficult to fill European UGS this summer and thoroughly prepare for winter“, the report notes. As of March 31, gas stocks in European underground gas storage facilities had decreased to 34.3 billion cubic meters - a third of the storage volume and 25.3 billion cubic meters less than a year ago.
By the end of the first quarter, Europe had already taken 62.9 billion cubic meters of gas from underground storage, which is 25.2 billion cubic meters more than the volume pumped in the previous summer - the maximum surplus in the history of observations. Net gas production in March 2025 is 40.9% higher than in March last year.
„By the end of the first quarter, Germany, the Netherlands and France used up the most of their reserves. They are among the five countries with the largest gas storage volumes in Europe. If at the beginning of the season the occupancy of their underground gas storage facilities confidently exceeded 90%, then on March 31 it fell to 28.7%, 21.1% and 25%, respectively, the company emphasizes.
At the same time, gas consumption in Turkey in the first quarter reached a historical maximum for January-March and exceeded 21 billion cubic meters, according to Gazprom's calculations based on data from the Turkish EPIAS exchange.
Europe will need more gas to fill storage facilities next summer and, given the limited commissioning of new capacities on the market, will have to compete for LNG with Asia, whose demand for fuel is growing. The Gas Exporting Countries Forum even predicts that summer gas exchange prices will be higher than in winter, undermining the economic feasibility of pumping gas into underground gas storage.