A week after Russian gas stopped flowing through Ukraine, the European Commission maintains there is no threat to security of supply despite data showing a steep drop in reserves as temperatures fall across much of the bloc.
The EU executive has dismissed the suggestion that the latest figures for gas storage levels across Europe raise the spectre of imminent shortages a week after imports of Russian gas via Ukraine ended almost three years since the Kremlin launched its undeclared war on the country.
Gas stopped flowing through Soviet Union-era pipelines on New Year’s Day upon the expiry of a five-year transit agreement between Gazprom and Ukrainian firm Naftogaz, but the impact was muted after strenuous efforts by the EU and national governments to line up alternative sources and routes of supply.
But fresh data released this week showed that EU stockpiles have fallen from around 95 billion cubic metres at the beginning of November to just 75 billion, equivalent to roughly a quarter of annual consumption across the bloc since the invasion.
“There are high withdrawals compared to last year, but the storage levels are still at around 70%, and they remain higher than the average of the pre-war levels,” the EU executive’s energy spokesperson Ana-Kaisa Itkonen said.
At the same point in January 2024, gas storage facilities across the EU were still 85% full on aggregate.
Slovakia – which like Hungary and Austria has continued to rely on Russian pipeline gas since the invasion – has been vocally critical of Ukraine’s refusal to renew the transit contract. Prime minister Robert Fico repeated last week his claim that it would hurt the EU more than the Kremlin.
Slovak diplomatic sources say Fico and his deputy, economy minister Denisa Saková, plan to discuss the matter with Commission officials in Brussels on Thursday (9 January), and that a meeting today was cancelled when Kiev declined to take part – something the EU executive would neither confirm nor deny.
“We maintain that there are no securities supply issues for the member states at all,” the EU executive’s energy spokesperson Ana-Kaisa Itkonen said, stressing that any ongoing talks with affected governments and interested parties were not necessarily a reflection of such concerns.
“We will continue to work with member states and the countries in the region, also in view of the Commission’s plan to come up with a roadmap to completely rid ourselves of Russian fossil fuels,” Itkonen said.
In parallel with the halting of gas transit via Ukraine, Russia itself has cut supplies to Moldova – a move prime minister Dorin Recean sees as an attempt to destabilise his country, which like Ukraine is a candidate for EU accession.
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