Europe will find it very difficult to replenish its gas storage capacity at last year’s levels after the continent ended the winter season with relatively low reserves, Russian energy giant Gazprom warned on Tuesday, cited by Reuters and Agerpres.

In 2022, the European Union invested heavily in liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports and adopted rules to increase storage capacity to avoid supply shortages following a cut in Russian gas imports following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

As of April 16, Europe had 56.6 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas in storage, down from 58 billion cubic meters of gas for the same period in 2020 at the start of the pandemic.

Europe benefited from relatively mild weather, which may not be repeated next winter, Gazprom claims.

Replenishment of gas storage capacities may become an “important task” for European companies, warns the Russian giant.

Since the supply of Russian gas to Europe has fallen

“The operation will be difficult to carry out, given the politically motivated decisions aimed at refusing to import Russian gas. “Competition for liquefied natural gas will greatly affect the volumes of gas available on the European market,” Gazprom believes.

In 2022, Europe imported 62 billion cubic meters of Russian gas through pipelines, which is 60% below the average figure for the previous five years, according to data from the European Commission.

According to the forecast of the International Energy Agency (IEA), this year supplies from Russia to the EU will fall to 25 billion cubic meters, assuming that the flows through the Turkish Stream gas pipeline and through Ukraine will correspond to the volumes of December 2022.

Russian authorities and Moscow propaganda repeatedly threatened Europe with a harsh winter last year, broadcasting apocalyptic pictures of frozen cities and starving people.

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