The energy crisis in Europe continues to persist.
The European Union is entering the calendar winter of 2024/2025 with the lowest gas reserves in three years since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. A cold autumn has guaranteed Europe another year of an energy crisis provoked by the Kremlin, reports BBC.
The EU prepared for this heating season well in advance. Two months before its start, gas storage facilities were filled to 90%. The 100 billion cubic meters injected underground by the end of August ensured a third of the annual consumption. Prices for electricity and heating began to decrease, but nature had other plans.
After the last two mild winters, the prelude to the current one has been frosty. In November, gas withdrawals from storage due to increased heating demand reached a record high, the most in nearly a decade and a half. By early December, storage was only 86% full. Last year it was 96%, and two years ago it was 93%.
“The current reserves are more than sufficient for any scenario, even if the winter turns out to be colder than usual. Europe is not facing a shortage of physical supplies,” state experts from the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. “However, everything that will be drawn from storage will need to be replenished in the summer of 2025.”