Gas reserves in Europe's underground storage facilities have dropped below 40%

Gas reserves in Europe's underground storage facilities have dropped below 40%. This is evidenced by data published on February 4 by the APA-Economics agency with reference to data from Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE).

The agency clarifies that the total volume of gas in Europe's storage facilities is approximately 44 billion cubic meters, which is 16.2 percentage points lower than the average for the last five years and significantly less than a year ago (52.6%). Since the beginning of the heating season on October 13, the EU countries have extracted about 52.5 billion cubic meters from UGS, while the net withdrawal exceeded 47.5 billion cubic meters, or 87% of the volumes pumped in the summer.

Temperatures in Europe this week differ by region: the first half of the seven-day period was quite cool, but warming is expected by the weekend. The share of wind generation in EU electricity generation was 20% in December 2025 and 19% in January 2026. The average gas purchase price in January 2026 was $415 per 1,000 cubic meters compared to $334 in December 2025 due to the cold snap. According to GIE, the last heating season ended on March 28, 2025, when 33.57% of reserves remained in the UGS.

Experts note that the total gas extraction from UGS facilities on the 113th day after reaching the maximum filling exceeds the average on that day over the past five years by 1%.

Dmitry Scriabin, portfolio manager of Alfa Capital Management Company, said on February 3 that the dynamics of gas prices in January was determined by geopolitics in addition to the weather factor. In particular, we are talking about stopping the transit of Russian-made gas through the territory of Ukraine. It was noted that closer to the middle of spring, there may be a seasonal correction in prices.

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