Natural gas, European tanks filled early
This winter, Europe as a whole must not suffer from the cold. In fact, almost two and a half months ahead of schedule, the underground natural gas tanks have already been filled to 90%. Current reserves would guarantee a third of the winter demand for gas, an essential element for heating and industry.
This is an unexpected and highly valuable result that protects us from any geopolitical crisis originating from Russia. In fact, if Putin decided to completely close his gas pipelines, the EU, in addition to this formidable reserve, would have at its disposal a rich network of regasification plants capable of importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) from all the places in the world where it is extracted.
Natural gas, eleven countries out of 27, already have sufficient gas reserves
To underline this result Estonian Kadri Simson, European Commissioner for Energy “This is the second year in a row that we have managed to reach 90% filling well before 1 November. This highlights the EU’s preparedness for the coming winter, building on our intensive work over the past two and a half years. We will continue to monitor the situation so that gas storage levels remain sufficiently high in the coming months and so that we also maintain our focus on improving energy efficiency and increasing the deployment of renewables.”
Which countries are the most provident? Eleven have 90% reserves: Belgium, Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden and Spain. One success, regarding gas collection, is that of Germany. The Germans, despite being in the midst of an economic crisis and being among the most energy-hungry, have managed to store enough gas to protect them from surprise speculative price increases or worse, supply cuts from Russia. Only Lithuania is still at 70% but still has a couple of months available.
The Commissioner’s statement could not fail to include a note on Ukraine “where the situation is much more difficult than that of the Twenty-seven. Its energy sector is under strong and constant attack from Russia. We must continue to support it and provide the necessary support to its energy system so that its population can also safely overcome the harsh winter that awaits us”.
This result is even more significant especially if seen in the light of the last two years. In this period, European gas demand has contracted sharply due to a combination of factors: lower industrial consumption due to high prices, milder temperatures in autumn and winter, a leap in quality in electricity generation with renewable technologies and finally a more conscious approach to the use of families and businesses.
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