Heating in Europe: As EU countries do without Russian gas in winter

The gas storage facilities of European countries remain filled with the required amount of resource. Thus, at the end of December, the level of filling decreased to only 86. 5%, compared to 99. 6% in November. The European Union countries will not use all the accumulated gas for the 2023/2024 heating season due to a fairly warm winter. Therefore, "blue fuel" stocks are likely to remain at a record high level, Reuters writes.

Thus, according to Gas Infrastructure Europe (Gie), reserves in the European Union and the United Kingdom on the last day of 2023 were at 996 Terravat-hours (TVTG), which is a seasonal record. Meanwhile, in Northwestern Europe, the main consumption zone, in the last three months of 2023, the temperature was much higher than usual, so the demand for heating and use of gas has decreased greatly.

For example, according to the publication, from October to December the temperature in German Frankfurt exceeded the average by 2. 3 degrees. And at the Hitrou Airport London, in the last three months of 2023, the air temperature was 1. 1 degrees higher than the average season. "In December throughout the region, the temperature was particularly soft, which led to a very small reduction in stocks during the month," journalists write. Therefore, at the end of December, there were still 86.

5% in Europe's gas storage facilities from the gas season accumulated before the start of the heating season, compared to 99. 6% in November. It is noted that this is the second largest indicator in history and 15 percentages is higher than the average seasonal figure in ten years. According to the publication, it is unlikely that the EU countries will spend all gas reserves by the end of winter.

"In fact, repositories in the EU and the United Kingdom will probably end the winter filled by almost 54%, with a probable range from 42%to 69%," the material said. In September 2023, Naftogaz Chairman Alexei Chernyshov stated that Ukraine will be held with the help of gas production, that is, the state will not buy a resource abroad. This is possible because in 2023 in Ukraine made a record number of new wells.

As part of the preparation for the autumn and winter period, Ukraine has accumulated over 15 billion cubic meters of gas. "This figure is enough to take the winter," Chernyshov said. Meanwhile, in the first days of January of the New Year, futures in the United States fell by almost 35%, and futures in Europe fell to the lowest level in almost five months - $ 340 per thousand cubic meters.