European Storage Withdrawals Start

European storage inventories began to decline in the week starting October 12, according to data from Gas Infrastructure Europe. While in some countries injections into storage continued, in most they either stopped or reversed as colder weather moved in. There have been withdrawals before this autumn, but not in such volume.

In Ukraine, injections continued to rise, although they have not recovered the ground lost mid-September  when a withdrawal of some 50 GWh was recorded. As a result, there were 248.2 GWh in Ukraine's storage facilities as of October 14, meaning 77% of the capacity is being used, while in the European Union plus the UK the total was 1062.8 GWh, meaning 95.2% of capacity was in use at that date.

European hub prices for prompt and forward delivery have risen since their summer trough, bringing storage capacity-holders the chance to make some money from the seasonal spread. Day-ahead and Q1 contracts at the Dutch Title Transfer Facility were assessed October 15 at €14.40/MWh and €14.60/MWh, while the gas could have been bought for injection at about one third of that price.