Last year's gas ended in Europe: The Baltic States and Finland feel it

For the first time since 2022, less than 37 billion cubic meters remained in European storage facilities during the heating season. European companies have already taken away all the savings of last year and switched to older stocks. Countries The EU does not consume more gas, and has not calculated the volumes for the winter, having accumulated less fuel for the heating season. So far, this is felt only in The Baltic States and Finland, which import fuel at the highest prices in the EU.

At the end of last week, the gas accumulated last year ran out in the storage facilities of the EU countries. According to GIE, on February 14, reserves dropped to 36.95 billion cubic meters. This is 300 million cubic meters more than the minimum gas reserves in the UGS of the EU countries last spring. However, the current selection is at the level of 500 million cubic meters per day, and on February 15, the storage facilities were already left without last year's savings.

Compared to last year's figures The EU does not consume more gas. So, this winter, 53.3 billion cubic meters were taken from UGS by February 14, while a year ago these figures amounted to 55.2 billion cubic meters. It's all about low gas reserves by winter. They turned out to be 14 billion cubic meters less.

Such low stocks were recorded for the last time at this time of the year in 2022. But then Europe still had Gazprom. Now it has been partially replaced by LNG, which is expected to grow in Europe.

In European capitals, they explained the reduction of the download limits by the fear that speculation would begin on the stock exchanges and prices would rise. Compared to last year, they are lower, but it is not known what they will be ahead — after the gas reserves in The EU will fall to a minimum at the end of the season. Last year's stocks ran out of storage facilities in the Netherlands, Germany and Latvia before anyone else.

So far, only the "gas corner" of Europe, which is completely dependent on LNG, is experiencing the effect of low reserves. If on the German stock exchange THE fuel is traded at $ 439 per thousand cubic meters, then in In the Baltic states — $ 550, and in Finland — $ 662, according to EEX.