European Commission: Gas reserves in EU countries are reassuring

The European Commission said that gas reserves in EU countries are reassuring, despite the halt in Russian gas supplies via Ukraine starting in early 2025, and the harsh winter in most member states.

This was reported by Anna-Kaisa Itkonen, spokeswoman for the Energy Unit of the European Commission, on Tuesday, in a briefing to journalists via telephone, the details of which were reported by the Euronews website.

At the beginning of this year, the flow of Russian gas via Ukraine stopped at an annual average of 16 billion cubic meters.

According to Anadolu Agency, Itkonen stated that the European Commission confirms that there is no threat to the security of supplies to the bloc’s countries until the first week of this January.

Data from the Energy Unit of the European Commission showed on Tuesday that the European Union’s gas reserves decreased from about 95 billion cubic meters at the beginning of last November to 75 billion.

Itkonen added: “There are high withdrawals compared to last year… but storage levels are still at about 70%, and remain higher than the average pre-war levels.”

Gas flows through the Soviet-era pipelines were halted on New Year’s Day after a five-year transit agreement between Gazprom and Ukraine’s Naftogaz expired. Most EU countries are experiencing a cold winter this year, meaning increased consumption of natural gas, the main source of electricity generation.