The EU’s natural gas storage is already at 95% full, data from Gas Infrastructure Europe show, after the bloc reached in August its target to have 90% full storage well ahead of its self-imposed binding deadline, November 1.

In the middle of August, the EU reached its target of filling gas storage facilities to 90% of capacity 10 weeks ahead of the 1 November deadline. This achievement is on par with last year, when EU countries reached the 90% target on August 18, the European Commission said two months ago.

Now the EU storage is 95% full as the heating season begins. The storage level this year is slightly below last year’s level, but above the 2017-2021 average and the 2022 storage levels, according to the data.

Major economies and gas markets such as Germany and Italy have their storage at more than 97% full, while Austria, still dependent on Russian pipeline gas flows, had its gas storage at 93.73% full as of this weekend.

Yet, gas in storage wouldn’t cover Europe’s needs for winter, and the volumes of gas in storage are slightly lower compared to this time last year, mostly due to lower numbers of incoming LNG cargoes.

As Europe prepares for the winter amid uncertainty about the remaining Russian pipeline gas flows, LNG imports have been rising in recent weeks.

Now that more cargoes have headed to Europe, supply concerns could ease, but prices are set to increase with rising seasonal demand and competition between Europe and Asia for LNG supply.

In addition, the conflict in the Middle East and fears of it spreading through the region are pushing up Europe’s natural gas prices early on Monday.

Dutch TTF Natural Gas Futures, the benchmark for Europe’s gas trading, were up by 2% to $43.42 (40.00 euros) per megawatt-hour (MWh) at 12:42 p.m. in Amsterdam on Monday.

By Charles Kennedy, Oilprice.com / October 21, 2024