European Gas Storage on Track to Meet Target But at a Cost

European countries are on track to reach a gas storage filling target by the start of this winter, but the cost of replenishing stocks will be over 50 billion euros ($51 billion), 10 times more than the historical average of filling up tanks for winter.

European governments had been concerned that Russia's cut in supplies through its main gas pipeline to Germany would leave countries unable to meet goals to refill storage for winter.

They have managed to build up gas storage steadily by curbing demand, switching from gas to coal for some power plants and increasing imports of LNG.

European gas storage levels were 70.54% full on Aug. 2, surpassing the 5-year average of 70.32%, according to data from Gas Infrastructure Europe released on Aug. 4. The levels were also not far from a 10-year average of around 71.40%.