It became known about the record reduction of gas reserves in the European Union in five years

The average level of underground gas storage (UGS) reserves in Europe dropped to 28.14% on March 28, which was 13 percentage points lower than the five-year average. This was reported by Interfax on March 30, citing data from Gas Infrastructure Europe.

The European gas industry is now entering a transition period from extraction to injection, but European companies continue to use up reserves. Over the past week, the average daily intake was about 70 million cubic meters. The cold snap is likely to prevent the transition to net pumping at least until the end of this week.

Europe is trying to compensate for the shortage of pipeline gas by importing liquefied natural gas. By the end of 2025, the countries of the region purchased 109 million tons of LNG, which is 28% more than a year earlier. In March 2026, imports of liquefied natural gas may reach a record 10.5 million tons.

More than it will affect: the global gas crisis will last about five years

Which countries will be affected first and how long will it take to restore the supply of Middle Eastern LNG

Yesterday, Kirill Dmitriev, special representative of the President of the Russian Federation for investment and economic cooperation with foreign countries, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, said that European countries are waiting for energy lockdowns, they will beg Russia for energy resources. He also previously compared European countries' ignoring of the energy crisis to an attempt to postpone the ringing of a loud alarm clock.

On March 9, during a meeting on the situation on the global oil and gas market, Putin said that Russia was ready to work with the Europeans on energy supplies, but signals of their readiness were needed. He clarified that the state may decide to transfer energy supplies from the European market to "more interesting areas" without expecting Europe itself to "demonstratively slam the door" on this initiative.

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