EU in “robust” shape to hit 90% winter gas storage aim – IEA
Date: July 16th 2024
Author: Elise Wu, Montel
Category: En.vision
Topic:
Natural gas
, Energy policy
EU gas storage levels are currently “in a robust position to reach the 90% fill target by the start of the heating season”, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Tuesday.
Storage capacity at the beginning of this month in the bloc stood 16% above the five-year average, it added in its latest quarterly gas market report.This was coupled with the fact that injection requirements were expected to remain below 2023 levels for the rest of the year as the region’s gas storage levels closed last winter at a record high, around 19bcm, or 45% higher than the five-year average, the Paris-based agency said.
Ukraine’s storage facilities could also offer 10bcm of extra capacity to the European market should it be required this coming winter.
Overall EU storage sites were last seen 81% full, while Germany had hit its 85% gas storage target 11 weeks early, Gas Infrastructure Europe data showed.
Amid Russian gas curtailments since the start of the Ukraine war in 2022, the EU has required storage sites to be filled to 90% by 1 November to ensure supply security.
Gas generation drop
Meanwhile, the IEA forecast gas demand in Europe to remain flat at around 487bcm this year, close to last year’s 488bcm, “as higher gas use in buildings and industry [was] almost entirely offset by lower gas-fired power generation”.Gas demand in the power sector was set to drop by more than 10% “amid the rapid expansion of renewables and improving nuclear availability in France”.
On the supply side, LNG imports to Europe were expected to decline by almost 10% year on year in 2024 amid high inventory levels, weak demand and stronger piped gas deliveries.
For instance, the agency, forecast Russian pipeline gas deliveries to the region to increase by more than 5% this year, although the “profile” of deliveries remained “a major uncertainty”.
Overall, the global LNG market was expected to grow by around 15bcm, or 3%, year on year, with the US providing the “lion’s share” of new export capacity.
Since the halt to Russian gas flows, LNG has played a major part in Europe in substituting lost volume.
Biomethane surge
Separately, the IEA expected European biomethane production to surge 85% between 2023 and 2027, with output set to reach 8.5bcm.France, Italy, Denmark and the Netherlands were set to make up 80% of this growth.
Despite this, “more policy support [would] be required to put the EU on track to reach its 35bcm/year biomethane production target by 2030”, the agency added.
This article is available also in Slovene.
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