(Adds detail)
MOSCOW, April 18 (Reuters) - It will be very difficult
for Europe to refill its gas storage to last year's levels after
the continent ended the winter heating season with relatively
low stockpiles, Russian natural gas giant Gazprom said
on Tuesday.
The European Union last year invested heavily in liquefied
natural gas (LNG) imports and adopted regulation to boost
storage to fend off any shortage after Russian gas supplies to
Europe shrank following Moscow's special military operation in
Ukraine.
Gazprom said that as of April 16, Europe storage contained
56.6 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas, down from 58 bcm in the
same period of 2020, at the start of COVID-19 pandemic.
In a message on Telegram social media, Gazprom said Europe
had been helped by relatively mild weather, which may not be the
case next year.
Repeating the filling of storage could become "a non-trivial
task" for European companies, Gazprom said.
"This will be very difficult to do, given the politically
motivated decisions aimed at refusing to import Russian pipeline
gas. The volume of gas available on the European market will be
greatly affected by competition for LNG," Gazprom said.
Last year's European imports of Russian pipeline gas were 62
bcm, 60% below the average of the previous five years, European
Commission data shows.
This year, Russian deliveries to the EU are expected to fall
to 25 bcm, assuming flows via the TurkStream pipeline and
through Ukraine are in line with December 2022 volumes, the
International Energy Agency (IEA) forecasts.
(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin
Editing by David Goodman and Barbara Lewis)
@vsoldatkin;))
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