https://www.rt.com/business/558955-eu-g ... es-russia/
EU forced to tap gas reserves amid Russian supply shortfall
European energy companies have started using gas from underground storage facilities to make up for Russia’s Nord Stream 1 pipeline.
►Currently, Europe has about 67 billion cubic meters of gas.
►85.5 million cubic meters of natural gas were withdrawn from German UGS facilities on July 12.
This exceeded the injection level for the first time since the beginning of April, data showed.
►largest withdrawals were made by German energy major Uniper, Austrian OMV and Norwegian Equinor.
--German Uniper said it did not rule out having to take gas from UGS facilities and reduce supplies as early as this week.
--Austrian OMV announced a decrease in gas deliveries to Austria by 70%.
►production problems in Norway, Europe’s second largest natural gas supplier after Russia.
--Equinor’s Sleipner gas field in the North Sea was forced to temporarily halt production this week due to multiple leaks.
Romania and Belgium also started tapping into reserves on July 12,
►total Europe gas storage reserves amount to 62.57% of capacity.
Currently, the only remaining route for Russian gas supplies to the countries of Western and Central Europe is the transit line through Ukraine.
However, those were cut by nearly half in May when Kiev shut down the Sokhranovka entry point, with only the Sudzha transit route still in operation.
Gas supplies via Turkish Stream and Blue Stream have not been affected,
but they are intended for Turkey and the countries of southern and southeastern Europe.
