EU Gas Storage Filling At Pace

European underground gas storage filling soared in May to record levels according to Gas Infrastructure Europe data.

• Around 15.6 bln cubic meters of gas were pumped into European UGS facilities in May, up by 52% compared with last year’s filling pace in the same period and by 11.5% compared with the previous record of May 2018.
• Gas reserves in European gas storage facilities as of May 31 were up to 47.13%, which is 2.5 percentage points lower than the average level as of the same date over the last five years. Slightly over 50 bln cubic meters of gas are currently stored in them.
• The EU has pushed for 80% storage levels across Europe by October 1 and 90% by November 1 to help ensure supply ahead of winter.
• Portugal and Poland have been filling their storage facilities with gas most actively as they have reached 92.49% and 94.61% reserves levels, respectively. UGS facilities in Germany are 48.8% full, in France - 52.04%, in Italy - 49.86%, in the Netherlands - 39.86%, in Bulgaria - 22.41%, in Denmark - 54.3%, in Hungary - 30.66%, in Austria - 32.77%, in the Czech Republic - 62.92%, in Belgium - 36.96%.