Gas reserves in Europe are likely to remain at record high levels at the end of winter 2023/24. Mild temperatures in the region will not cause high gas consumption, Reuters reports.
Inventories across the European Union and the United Kingdom amounted to 996 terawatt-hours (TWh) on 31 December, a seasonal record, according to data compiled by Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE).
Northwest Europe, the principal consumption area, experienced much warmer-than-normal temperatures in the final three months of 2023, suppressing heating demand and gas use.
As a result, gas storage sites were still 86.5% full at the end of December, down from a peak of 99.6% in November, but the second highest on record, and 15 percentage points higher than the ten-year seasonal average.
"Gas reserves in Europe cannot become threateningly low by the end of winter. In fact, EU and UK storage sites are likely to end the winter almost 54% full, with a likely range from 42% to 69%," Reuters said.