Amid abnormally hot conditions, EU countries withdrew almost one billion cubic meters of gas from underground storage facilities in July, the highest amount for that month since 2022, according to RIA Novosti calculations based on data from Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE), the association of European gas infrastructure operators. Europe traditionally fills underground storage tanks in the summer to stockpile fuel for the heating season.
However, in July, the volume of gas injected into GPC facilities was 16% lower than last year, making 8.8 billion cubic meters. At the same time, European countries extracted 964 million cubic meters of gas from their gas storages, which is 1.5 times more than in July 2025. This is the highest volume of gas pumping for this month since 2022, when the figure was 1.4 billion cubic meters. Thus, net injection, or the net volume of gas with which Europe filled its underground storages last month, was 7.8 billion cubic meters. This is the lowest level for this month since 2020, when the figure was 5.3 billion cubic meters. The reason for the depletion of winter reserves is the unusual heat and drought in the region.
On the one hand, Europeans massively use air conditioners, increasing electricity consumption. On the other hand, the lowering of river levels has affected the operation of hydroelectric power plants and nuclear power plants, which has led to an increase in the demand for gas-fired electricity generation.
