Bulgaria has stopped filling “Chiren”, Europe is starting to draw its gas reserves – Europe
Bulgaria has stopped storing gas in its Chiren underground storage facility, according to the Brussels-based organization Gas Infrastructure Europe, which monitors the state of stocks in the EU.
Currently, “Chiren” is 93.71% full of its volume, as gas supply to it was suspended on November 11. the following month the minimum level of 80% was reached.
So far, Bulgaria has not yet started to use the quantities in its gas storage, according to the data, which follows the reserves in 22 European countries that store with their own gas tanks. However, 11 of them have now opened the season the week of November 14.
This is the latest start of the heating season in Europe, where drawing from gas storage usually starts around 1 October. Because of the warmer weather (October was about 3 degrees warmer than usual) and caution against expected problems due to the significant reduction in Russian natural gas supplies since the start of the war in Ukraine, most administrations prefer to maximize gas power and supply of liquefied gas before it begins to draw from its reserves.
Currently, underground gas storages in the EU are full to 95.17% of their volumes, and in all countries except Latvia (59.96%) and Hungary (85.77%) reserve levels are 91-100% of the volumes of the gas storages.
The EU this summer obliged governments to fill at least 80% of their gas storages by November 1, and from next autumn up to 90%, to stock up in case of possible suspension of imports or supply problems. Currently, Russian gas only comes through Ukraine and through the LNG terminals.
Meanwhile, Russia’s state-owned Rosatom said it was considering ending the foreign currency of “enemy countries” as a means of payment for its services. Previously, this was done by the state gas company Gazprom, which accepts payments only in rubles.
“We do not make payments in dollars, nor in euros, nor in yen, nor in pounds,” said Ilya Rebrov, deputy director of economic and financial affairs, quoted by the Russian Interfax news agency.
“All these currencies are no longer interesting or safe for us from a work point of view. We are gradually moving towards this, step by step. I think in a year or two we will completely reduce these calculations,” Rebrov said.