Natural gas storage

Europe has weathered the energy crisis that followed Russia's invasion of Ukraine so far, but businesses and households are already thinking about how to get through the next winter.

Mild weather, government aid, gas storage facilities at full capacity and energy imports from other regions have helped Europe limit the economic damage caused by the war.

Bulgaria launched a project to almost double its gas storage with a €152 million deal between grid operator Bulgartransgaz and a Bulgarian-led consortium signed on Friday.

"The gas for 2023 is secured, the expectations are for stabilization of the prices in the coming winter months", Deputy Minister of Energy Elenko Bozhkov said on BNT.

According to him, the warmer winter means less gas used from the gas storage in Chiren.

Germany's gas storage facilities are already 85 percent full, meeting Berlin's October target levels, despite the prolonged shutdown of Russian Nord Stream 1 supplies.

This is according to data published yesterday by the European group of operators "Gas Infrastructure Europe", cited by Reuters and BTA.

The stock price of gas on the ICE Futures site has fallen almost 20% so far, according to trading data. The price of September futures at the TTF hub in the Netherlands, which determines the pricing of the continent, as of 12:30 p.m. fell by 18.7%, reaching €275.8 for 1 MWh, or 83.83 per thousand cubic meters.

Germany said yesterday it would raise the alert level under its emergency gas plan to secure supply following the recent reduction of pipeline supplies from Russia.

Germany's race to wean itself off Russian energy and stockpile enough gas before winter is playing out largely hidden from view, some 1,600 meters below ground in the foothills of the Bavarian Alps.    

The former Bierwang natural gas field in Unterreit serves as one of Germany's largest underground gas storage facilities.  

Gazprom increased its gas exports to Bulgaria by 43.8%.

The company's deliveries to foreign countries have increased to 171.5 billion cubic meters, which is 6.6% (10.6 billion cubic meters) more than in the same period in 2020.

Turkey is in a good position in terms of energy supplies compared to European countries amid the energy crisis that has exposed low stocks and skyrocketing energy prices, according to Turkey's Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Fatih Dönmez on Oct. 13.

Greece has pushed back by a month a deadline for investors to bid for a contract to run an underground gas storage facility in the northern Aegean Sea.
Privatisation agency HRADF (or TAIPED), which manages the concession, said late on Tuesday that it had extended the deadline for initial bids to Sept. 30 from Aug. 31, without giving a reason for the delay.