Gas storage regulation adopted by the European Parliament in June 2022, seeks to ensure building up stocks in EU gas storage facilities before the winter season and that they could be shared between Member States in a spirit of solidarity. This was seen as an important step towards strengthening the EU's security of energy supply. The stock must be at a minimum of 90% of capacity before the start of the winter period. As gas storage capacities and national situations vary widely, Member States will, depending on the situation, be able to partially meet the storage targets by including stocks of liquefied natural gas (LNG) or alternative fuels.
What is the situation this year?
Europe
According to Gas Infrastructure Europe, The EU reached its target by more than 2 months before the November 1 deadline. Gas storage is essential for Europe's security of energy supply as it can cover up to a third of the EU's winter gas demand. The data shows that gas storage levels reached 1 025 TWh or 90.02% of storage capacity (equivalent to just under 92 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas) on 19 August.
Financial Intelligence shows that stocks have been rising for 134 days since March 31, compared with the average length of the refill season of 209 days over the past 10 years. Typically, storage peaks around October 27, but there has been considerable variation, depending on fall temperatures and gas prices. Since 2011, pre-winter inventories have peaked as early as October 9 (in 2016) or as late as November 13 (in 2022), according to GIE data.
România
On August 22, 2024, Romania will have already stored 2,878 billion cubic meters of natural gas and had reached a degree of fullness of 90,79%. Our country has met its natural gas storage target for next winter more than 70 days ahead of the deadline set by European legislation for November 1, 2024. Minister Sebastian Burduja stated on this occasion: "We are maintaining our commitment from last winter and for the coming winter: Romanians will not shiver either from the cold or from the fear of bills. Romania is, as always, a solid partner for the European Union. By complying with these targets, our country will continue to play the role of a pillar of stability for the entire regional sector."
Also, the minister emphasized, Romania can produce 25 million cubic cubic meters a day and, in addition, thanks to the development of international gas connections, we have access to other sources of supply and more diverse routes: "Another good news is that, as of October 1, the Alexandroupolis LNG terminal will start operating. This floating storage and regasification facility is essential for the Vertical Corridor - a Romanian initiative - which will deliver gas from outside the Russian Federation to the rest of Europe."
Depogaz, a company owned 100% by Romgaz, operates 5 storage facilities, with a total active capacity of about 2870 million m3/cycle. Depomureș, controlled by Engie, also owns a single storage, with a capacity of 300 million cubic meters/cycle.
Why is storage important?
The answer is obvious: because we need to prepare for the winter periods of high consumption due to heating needs.
Economica.net shows that gas-fired central heating systems are currently the main source of heating in Romanian homes, according to a 2024 sociological survey: almost 58% of the participants use this heating method, while another 16% are connected to centralized heating systems and 15.6% depend on wood-burning stoves in the cold season. Less than 1% of respondents use heat pumps. So, Romania relies heavily on natural gas for heating the residential segment, which makes natural gas storage an essential issue.
Also, in Romania, much of the electricity comes from natural gas-fired power plants, and their absence could affect the national electricity supply. According to Romania's Energy Strategy 2025 - 2035, in our country, natural gas provides 301TPTP7T of electricity production. 84% of this amount is major natural gas and 16% is produced locally.
In the EU, 401TPTP7T of energy consumed in households comes from natural gas. At EU level, only 6.2% of electricity is produced from natural gas. While the EU is working to increase the amount of energy from renewables, the transition is not yet complete and over-winter storage needs will remain high.
Although storage has been in place since before the war in Ukraine, obligatory storage at EU level shows the capacity of natural gas to be a pillar of energy security for the Union and beyond.
The EU has committed supporting Ukrainewhose energy system has been affected by the war. EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson said: "Today we have reached our target of 90% of winter gas storage capacity - well ahead of the November 1 deadline for the second year in a row. This underlines the EU's preparedness for the coming winter, based on our hard work over the last 2.5 years. The Commission will continue to monitor the situation so that gas storage levels remain sufficiently high in the coming months and to keep our focus on improving energy efficiency and accelerating the deployment of renewable energy. I also want to take this opportunity to highlight the much more difficult situation in Ukraine, where the energy sector is under heavy and constant attack from Russia. Europe must continue to stand by Ukraine and provide the necessary support to its energy system so that the Ukrainian population can also get safely through the coming harsh winter."
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