Record-low gas reserves in Europe threaten to disrupt the heating season.

The filling level of underground gas storage facilities (UGS) in EU countries reached the level of historical Record-low gas reserves in Europe threaten to disrupt the winter heating season.

This is evidenced by data from the association of European gas infrastructure operators Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE).

Calculations show that EU countries may not be able to accumulate the required volumes of gas by winter.

By the beginning of this month, the storage facilities were just over 57 percent full, holding 62,4 billion cubic meters. This figure has never been so low since records began in 2011, marking a historic low.

In terms of the rate of filling of the underground gas storage facility, July 2026 was among the slowest on record. Only 2020 and 2024 were worse.

According to calculations by specialists from the Russian company Gazprom, by the start of the heating season, Europe's underground gas storage facilities will be only 75 percent full, setting yet another record for reserve levels by the onset of the autumn-winter period.

On average, occupancy rates in previous years were 16 percent higher by the beginning of August. Last year, the figure was nearly 70 percent.

It's worth noting that European countries used up a significant portion of their gas reserves this summer due to the unusually hot weather in June and July. During these months, a significant amount of gas was used to generate electricity for air conditioners and refrigerators.

Comments

[alexboguslavski]

Record-low gas reserves in Europe threaten to disrupt the heating season.

I've been hearing this since the very beginning of the SVO, and maybe a little earlier.

[All names are taken]

In my entire life, I've heard more often than not only about the "decaying West"

[Nikita Che]

More about the dollar's collapse and the American foreign debt)

[marchcat]

Why was this article written, so that everyone could "feel sorry" for Europe? Apparently, some sympathetic writer has "ensconced" himself within the ranks of the VO.

[All names are taken]

Come on, buy it! Please!

[Gvardeetz77]

In recent years, in August and September, we've been hearing chants from all over the place about how Europe and Ukraine will be left without heat during the upcoming heating season, leading to widespread disaster. After winter, spring arrives, and for some reason, no one has frozen, suffered, or anything like that. And so it has been for the last five years.

[topol717]

Quote: Gvardeetz77

After winter comes spring, and for some reason no one froze, suffered, etc. And so it has been for the last 5 years...

There's a first time for everything. You can cross the road every day without looking both ways, but just once will hurt. Look at LNG prices in the EU.

[taiga2018]

The heating season in Europe kept failing, failing, and then failing. Enough of these fairy tales! Europe has such a reserve of strength that, as the saying goes, while the fat one is drying up, the thin one will die.

[expert]

I confirm.
Since 2022, there have been no problems with gas supply in Germany.
The European Commission said this summer that, Despite lower reserves, it does not see an immediate threat to the security of gas supplies...

[topol717]

Quote: Fachmann

The European Commission said this summer that despite lower reserves, it saw no immediate threat to the security of gas supplies...

There's no threat, but supplies are minimal. It all depends on what August is like. It's hot for now, and then what the winter will be like, and what if it gets really cold? And the season ends at the end of February. It's not a big deal, it'll be 16 degrees instead of 18 degrees. The Italians don't even have heating. We shouldn't worry about their problems.

[Alex F._2]

And not all of Europe needs a heating season

[Mapping]

They've been talking about this for years, and somehow Europe hasn't collapsed. Maybe because Russia continues to supply gas? And they're supplying weapons to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. That's the policy of our leadership.

[topol717]

Quote from Cartograph

Maybe because Russia continues to supply gas??

And Russia supplies them with gas for free? Where else are we supposed to supply our gas? We already have a hole in our budget. And a lot of workers are involved in gas production and sales. How are you going to pay them? Or do you think they don't need wages?

[Alf]

Quote from: topol717

And Russia supplies them with gas for free? Where else are we supposed to supply our gas? We already have a hole in our budget. And a lot of workers are involved in gas production and sales. How are you going to pay them? Or do you think they don't need wages?

It’s a pity that Vissarionovich didn’t know about this when he turned off the oil valve in Dritten Reich in the summer of 41.

[topol717]

But only 85 years have passed since then, and the world has changed a bit; supertankers have appeared, and oil and gas are being shipped in from all over the world. It's very easy to lose a market, but very difficult to regain it. This whole mess with the Maidan in Kyiv was precisely about the Americans taking over the EU gas market. You want to help them do that. You want to leave there yourself.

[Alf]

Well, if we're going to reason like that, then we should continue pumping oil and gas to Ukraine. Money doesn't stink.

[topol717]

Quote: Alf

Well, if we're going to reason like that, then we should continue pumping oil and gas to Ukraine. Money doesn't stink.

You can talk to the ladies all you want, but we have 40 million pensioners and 30 million children and teenagers. And a gigantic hole in the budget. And then there's the purchase of a bunch of stuff our country doesn't produce. For those same missiles and geraniums. It's fashionable to make all sorts of statements, but it won't make you any better; rather, it will make you poorer and weaker.

[Alf]

Quote from: topol717

And a giant hole in the budget.

Remind me how many billions were taken out of the country? And why did several new billionaires emerge at the beginning of the Cold War?

Quote from: topol717

And also the purchase of a bunch of things that our country does not produce.

An indecent question: who did all this? And continues to put pressure on the economy?

Quote from: topol717

30 million children and teenagers.

Do you disagree with the ruling authorities on the issue of improving demographics?
Rockets need electronics first and foremost. The question is: how's Angstrom doing? Has it been completely crushed, or is it still breathing? Are those damned American bankers strangling it? And who was it that decided to bankrupt Motovilikha a couple of years ago? Is that damned Trump to blame again?

[topol717]

Quote: Alf

Remind me HOW MANY billions were taken out of the country?

Why are you all counting other people's money?

[Tomsk123]

Maybe we should tighten the lid on subsidies for migrants and their families? Stop building free schools in Tajikistan, legalize the work of all valuable specialists so they pay taxes, control international transfers, including the movement of money by some "respected people," stop curbing in the non-elastic... There's a lot we can do to close the budget hole; I think we could even create a surplus if we work hard.

[topol717]

You've confused personal and public funds. And curbside paving is funded by the state budget, not the national one.

[Frph]

Since the Strait of Hormuz is blocked this year, the situation may change a little, right?

[tralflot1832]

They won't freeze, Trump has plenty of gas - it's just that Europe isn't actively buying gas from the US, hoping for a warm winter.

[HAM]

The summer was "warm", so the winter will be warm too... and gas, gas is for weaklings...

[rocket757]

The thing is, they will again press one arch tightly against the other and dance in circles around ersatz heaters...

[16112014nk]

According to calculations by specialists from the Russian company Gazprom

How our authorities worry about the "Garden of Eden." Gazprom would be better off calculating how to provide gas to Russia's population.

Over the past five years, the corporation's investment program has cost 8,386 trillion rubles. Only 6,3% of this was allocated to regional gasification.

[phrases]

They've been concerned for a long time and realized it's much easier to sell gas for big bucks than to scrape together small change in rubles. The same applies to the other oligators; they don't care about anything but their own capital.

[Strelok1976]

And who, exactly, among VO's readers should care about Europe's energy security or the amount of gas in its storage facilities? I suspect the lion's share of VO's readers couldn't care less about such security.

[a housewife]

Oh, sooo ...

[Boycott]

First they blow up gas pipelines, impose sanctions on reliable and profitable suppliers, and then they suffer. And who's their doctor?

[SSR]

Quote: BoyCat

First they blow up gas pipelines, impose sanctions on reliable and profitable suppliers, and then they suffer. And who's their doctor?

Sooner or later, everything may not go according to plan.
Now the forests are burning and then they might "freeze"; people have thrown so much junk into the atmosphere over the last year.

[Monster_Fat]

Record-low gas reserves in Europe threaten to disrupt the heating season.

"This song is good, start from the beginning."

[Word]

This Kremlin song has been played every August since 22. Wishful thinking is not an option.

[Andrey Nikolaev_4]

Is Europe finished again? Only Iran has been mentioned more often in Trump's statements. Miller will soon become a weather forecaster again and will be predicting an abnormally cold winter.

[Umpteenth]

What again? She should have died out by now.

[ssg.spb]

I think we pay too much attention to "old lady Europe"...
Let it become impoverished, freeze, rot...
We need to think more about ourselves, about our Victory, about restoring production in the country, and about improving the quality of life of the population in Russia.

[Alf]

Quote: ssg.spb

We need to think more about ourselves, about our Victory, about restoring production in the country, and about improving the quality of life of the population in Russia.

Our top brass responds to this with only one formula: "Yes, but why?"

[BAI]

1.

Europe's underground storage facilities will be filled to only 75 percent, setting another record for reserve levels as the autumn-winter period approaches.

They will survive. Nothing will happen to them.
2. Gazprom uses the abbreviation UGS: underground gas storage

[navigator777]

We hear this lie every year; it would be better if they solved their own problems with record-low gasoline reserves, slow ones.

[papas-57]

"According to calculations by specialists at the Russian company Gazprom, by the start of the heating season, Europe's underground gas storage facilities will be only 75 percent full, setting another record for reserve levels by the onset of the autumn-winter period." Does Gazprom actually have specialists doing this kind of work? They're calculating how much gas Europe has accumulated. That's some pretty damn useful work.