Extraction of gas from underground storage has officially begun in Europe. Accordingly, Europe entered the heating season with a historically low level of gas reserves at the beginning of the winter season at 77.13% of the UGS volume..

Perhaps the available volumes will be enough for the entire cold season.. But it is precisely the low level of inventory that deprives operators of the flexibility to respond to severe cold..

Also, the low level of reserves has the greatest impact on the level of prices for blue fuel.. Supports the rise and rise of the price tag in the Asian market. Gas price at TTF hub in the Netherlands with delivery on Monday is $ 1,081 per thousand cubic meters.

Confident extraction of gas from underground storage facilities in Europe lasted three days in a row (from 13 to 15 October). On Saturday (the last day in the Gas Infrastructure Europe statistics), the injection naturally exceeded the withdrawal (as it happens at the beginning of the withdrawal season), since the demand in the system naturally decreases on weekends.

Last year, 2020, the transition from injection to sampling in Europe as a whole fell on almost the same date - October 12. At the same time, the weather this year in Europe roughly corresponds to last year's trend: the expected average temperature in October 2021 is half a degree lower than last year.

However, last year the situation was fundamentally different - the storage facilities had a record volume of gas accumulated following the results of two warm winters, and it was profitable for the market to start spending reserves early.

This season, reserves are at a historically low level, and there were expectations that pumping into UGS facilities in Europe will take longer as more reserves need to be built up..

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The difference between gas production and consumption by the population is about 1 billion cubic meters. m - Vitrenko.

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Earlier it was reported that energy-intensive companies continue to close due to high prices for gas and electricity. ArcelorMittal, Europe's largest steel company, temporarily suspends production at some of its factories.