According to data from Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE), the occupancy rate of underground gas storage facilities dropped below 50 percent in Europe on January 18th, almost three weeks earlier than in the previous year (a lower level was only back in 2022, when the gas crisis was in full swing), RIA Novosti reports
On the gas day of January 18th (which ended in the morning of January 19th), the occupancy rate of European gas facilities stood at 49.8 percent, indicating a significant decrease compared to previous periods:
- by 11.2 percentage points lower than a year earlier;
- by 14.6 percentage points less than the average for the last five years.
In 2022, a low level was due to a number of factors: adverse weather conditions, limited supply from key suppliers, and high demand for liquefied natural gas in the Asian region.
The current volume of gas in European storage facilities is estimated at 50.6bn cubic metres; in 2025, the 50 percent level was achieved on February 6th only.
It is also reported that, since the beginning of January, Europe has been taking 1.5 times more gas from UGS facilities than the average for the same periods of the last five years.
