Adequate winter reserves will give the Russian energy giant greater scope to increase exports to clamouring Europe
Gazprom's Power of Siberia project. Picture: REUTERS/MAXIM SHEMETOV
Energy Minister Nikolai Shulginov said on Wednesday that domestic gas storage was 97% filled, without disclosing the specific figure. Ronald Smith, senior oil and gas analyst at Russia’s BCS brokerage, estimates that the storage stands at about 69-billion m³ , close to the company's publicly disclosed target full-storage level of 72.6 bcm.
The former Soviet gas ministry, which became a state company in 1990s, runs a network of 23 storage sites — from abandoned gas fields to salt caves, securing 20% to 40% of all domestic supply in the heating season. While finished and now being filled with the gas, the Nord Stream 2 is awaiting the go-ahead from Germany before it can start transporting supplies.European inventories are about 14 bcm short of gas, including 8 bcm in Gazprom-linked facilities, partly due to Gazprom booking just a fraction of export capacity via Ukraine and Poland, said Dmitry Marinchenko, senior director at Fitch ratings agency.
But even with temperatures lower than usual across Russia last year, which Gazprom predicts may happen again this season, it used just 60.6 bcm from the storage at home, leaving 12 bcm underground untouched.
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