FT reported on the EU's difficulties in harvesting gas reserves by winter

The European Union (EU) countries have faced difficulties replenishing gas reserves for the winter due to record price increases caused by the conflict in Iran. This was reported by the Financial Times newspaper on April 21.

"Filling of gas storage facilities will be slower than it could be if market conditions were normal. The lack of market incentives to replenish reserves creates the risk that gas will need to be bought on the spot market during the winter at higher prices," said Henning Gloystein, an expert at Eurasia.

Summer fuel prices have risen to winter levels. This dynamic is due to supply constraints due to the situation in the Middle East and the EU's 80% storage capacity directive. According to the Gas Infrastructure Europe organization, at the moment the total reserves of the European Union are filled by 30%.

It is noted that in the Netherlands this indicator stopped at around 7.4%. Fuel reserves in Germany amount to 23.5%. The Uniper energy concern warned about the risk of disruption of plans by the end of the year without normalization of the market situation. It is expected that the European Commission will keep the requirement for filling storage facilities up to 80%. However, states may be allowed to lower the target to 75% to ease price pressures.

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

Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller said on March 30 that the level of gas reserves in the underground storage facilities of the European Union (EU) can be described as critically low for modern Europe. Miller assumed that reserves in European UGS facilities might not reach 70% by the beginning of next season.

On March 23, the European Commission (EC) called on EU countries to start the gas injection season now due to the crisis amid the conflict over Iran. The EC believes that Europe's energy security remains protected due to the lack of imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Middle East, which supplied oil through the Strait of Hormuz before the conflict.