Europe ends summer with lowest gas inventories on record

MOSCOW, September 2. /TASS/. Gas inventories in European underground storage facilities (UGS) are at their lowest level since records began in 2011, with one month to go before the traditional start of the heating season, posing a risk to gas supplies in the region, according to TASS calculations based on data from Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE).

Gas withdrawals from European storage facilities in August were the highest in five years at 771 mln cubic meters, up 11% from last year. At the same time, injections into UGS facilities fell by 8% to 10 billion cubic meters. As a result, total net injections, the difference between injection and withdrawal volumes, were 9% lower in August than a year earlier and among the lowest in 12 years at just 9.2 bln cubic meters.

At the end of August 2026, European UGS facilities were 65.39% full, 16.76 percentage points below the average for that date over the past five years, compared with 77.7% a year earlier. This was the lowest level for that date since records began in 2011. At the end of the month, EU storage facilities held around 71.5 bln cubic meters of gas, 14 bln cubic meters less than a year earlier and the lowest level since 2013. Gazprom forecast that gas inventories in European UGS facilities might not even reach 75% by the next heating season.

TASS previously reported that Europe risks entering the heating season with record-low gas inventories. The average pace of replenishment at EU storage facilities in July was among the lowest since records began in 2011 and accelerated only slightly in August. At the current pace, Europe may have its storage facilities only 70-75% full by the start of the fall-winter period, which would be the lowest level ever recorded at the beginning of a heating season.

Under European Commission requirements, EU countries must ensure that their gas storage facilities are 90% full at some point between October 1 and December 1 each year. A 10% flexibility margin is allowed in the event of difficult storage-filling conditions. Accordingly, net injections into European storage facilities must total at least 68 billion cubic meters by the start of the 2026-2027 fall-winter period to meet the storage target. So far, Europe has injected only 60% of the volume needed for the coming winter, or 41 bln cubic meters.

The pace of storage filling this year has been significantly affected by Europe's loss to Asia in the competition for available LNG supplies during the Middle East conflict, higher fuel prices and extreme heat in June and July. During such hot summer periods, demand for electricity to power cooling and air-conditioning systems rises sharply. Gas is one of the main sources of electricity generation, alongside nuclear, wind and solar power.

Europe imported one of its lowest volumes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) for the month of August in the past five years amid intense competition with Asia for available supplies on the market due to the Middle East crisis.

In August, LNG flows from European terminals into the EU gas transmission system totaled only around 9.1 billion cubic meters, up 8% from July but down 6% from August 2025.