Europe has not implemented its plan to create gas reserves for the winter EU countries have not been able to fill their underground storage facilities even to the minimum 80% that the European Commission allows, and stops at 75%. TASS calculations based on operational data from the Association of Gas Infrastructure Operators in Europe (GIE) will testify to this. The injection deficit is about 5 percentage points, equal to about 4-5 billion cubic meters of fuel. Formally, this means non-compliance with mandatory safety regulations, but Brussels has not yet introduced penalties, citing objective market difficulties. The largest gaps from the target indicators were recorded in Germany, France and Austria. The main reasons for the shortage were the unusually high cost of fuel in the spot market, the depletion of European budgets to subsidize purchases and a decrease in supplies of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States, which were directed to the Asia-Pacific region.

Europe has not implemented its plan to create gas reserves for the winter EU countries have not been able to fill their underground storage facilities even to the minimum 80% that the European Commission allows, and stops at 75%. TASS calculations based on operational data from the Association of Gas Infrastructure Operators in Europe (GIE) will testify to this. The injection deficit is about 5 percentage points, equal to about 4-5 billion cubic meters of fuel. Formally, this means non-compliance with mandatory safety regulations, but Brussels has not yet introduced penalties, citing objective market difficulties. The largest gaps from the target indicators were recorded in Germany, France and Austria. The main reasons for the shortage were the unusually high cost of fuel in the spot market, the depletion of European budgets to subsidize purchases and a decrease in supplies of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States, which were directed to the Asia-Pacific region.