According to Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE), as of January 1, European UGS facilities were 61.6% full, with 62.5 billion m3 of gas in them. This is 10.7 billion m3 less gas than in January 2025.
The decrease in reserves was affected by the fact that the target level of gas injection for the winter period set by the European Commission was not fully met. By November 1, European UGS facilities should have been 90% full, and 96.13 billion m3 of gas should have been stored there. By the beginning of fuel withdrawal from UGS on October 12, underground storage facilities were 83.15% full, with 89.52 billion m3 of gas in them. Until November, the storage volumes could not be increased to a proper extent, so the European Commission allowed to extend the period of stockpiling until December. But the target level was not reached.
Severe cold weather and snowfalls at the end of December 2025 and the beginning of January of the current year affected the faster rate of gas withdrawal from storage, which makes some experts talk about possible depletion of reserves by the end of January if the current frosts persist.
At the same time, it is noteworthy that gas reserves in storage facilities of key European countries are lower in terms of storage infrastructure. The level of UGS filling in France has already dropped to 59.1%, in Germany – to 56.1%, and in the Netherlands – to 48.2%.
