The European Commission said today that the European Union’s gas reserves are currently at 62%, claiming that the outlook is stable and that there is, for now, “no risk” for the winter.
At a press conference in Brussels, Eva Hrncirova, the European Commission’s spokesperson, acknowledged that, this year, the supply of gas reserves in Europe is being carried out “more slowly” than usual, but dismissed reasons for concern.
“At the moment, we are very close to 62%. There is, at this moment, no immediate concern regarding the security of gas supply in the European Union (EU) for the coming winter,” she said, noting that the EU never tries to fill its gas reserves completely, but only up to 80%.
Eva Hrncirova admitted that the closure of the Strait of Hormuz created a “very volatile context” and the heat waves that swept across Europe this summer “exerted pressure on the electricity system”.
“But, at this stage, the situation is stable and there is no risk,” she reinforced, insisting that the EU is “well on track to ensure gas supply in the winter”.
Questioned about who are currently the main gas suppliers to the EU, the spokesperson indicated that the first supplier is Norway, followed by the United States.
This assurance by the spokesperson came after, in July, in an interview with Reuters news agency, the executive director of the Norwegian company Equinor, Anders Opedal, the main supplier of natural gas to Europe, had warned that the EU might not be able to fill its gas reserves up to the 80% target before winter.
“We do not consider that Europe will reach, this autumn, a storage level higher than 80%,” he warned, noting that much of the liquefied natural gas that would normally be destined for Europe is being diverted to Asia due to the war in Iran.
