EU storage injection catches up with 2018

Gas injections into storage facilities across the European Union and the UK were on course to catch up with June 2018, the last year to see such depletion as winter ended, according to data published by Gas Infrastructure Europe.

As of June 16, the latest day for which data are available, there were 483 TWh stored in the region, compared with 493 TWh on June 18 2018. Injections over the past few days have been running at about 3.3 TWh/d. However at weekends when industrial and power generation demand are lower, injections have surged to 5 TWh/d. That might give a daily injection average of 3.8 TWh until the end of October – but as facilities fill up, the injection rate slows down a little. 

So as the longest day of the year approaches, the facilities are on average 43.4% full and not looking likely to get above 90% full by November 1, with wide variations across the region. France was at 44% while Italy, another major storage operator, was at 62% and Hungary and Poland at 62% and 58% respectively. German helped bring the average down with just 37%. Much will depend on the temperatures in the autumn therefore.

Gas prices have been accordingly unusually high as shippers have been buying up what they need for summer injection,  meaning that for some weeks there has been almost no difference now between summer and winter prices at the Dutch hub, last assessed around €28.5/MWh.

And low renewable electricity generation has added to the bullish market tone. Although it varies widely from country to country, Great Britain, with high installed gas-fired power capacity, has seen gas account for the biggest percentage share of the mix on most days this week, often above a third of the total, with wind often accounting for less than a sixth.