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Europe gas storage reserves – by country, updated daily
- audessuscest 4y agoit's interesting but percent value don't tell much, it depends of stockage capacity.
- benj111 4y agoIt would be interesting to know the end game here. If the Ukrainian war ends, I assume that isn't the end of it. I assume the taps from Russia will turn back on, but it has shown itself to be an unreliable supply.
- RandomWorker 4y agoThere is an emergency plan being executed and expedited to reduce total gas demand by 30%, which just happens to be the amount Europe imports. With half of that 15% this winter.
- yabqk 4y agoReducing energy consumption will only lead to impoverishment.
- desindol 4y agoCitation needed.
- lucumo 4y agoNot all reduction of consumption decreases output. For example, leaks could be plugged, insulation can be improved, more efficient machines could be used. Also, not all output is equal, not does all output have to be done at a fixed time. Heating homes has to be done during winter, but some factories can postpone production a few months to wait for more favourable circumstances. Furthermore, it's only a reduction in a few energy sources that are required, with gas being the most important. Other sources could be used to compensate to an extent. We're seeing some gas power plants moving back to coal for example. Not great for carbon emissions, but it has more and more flexible sources.
- MandieD 4y agoFor example, a lot of cities in Germany cut back on indoor pools this summer, and are considering it for the winter. Sounds trivial, but keeping 25m long indoor pool 23-24 degrees in the winter takes a lot of energy. It would suck for people who had gotten used to them being open again after the Covid years, but wouldn’t have much negative economic impact.
- sofixa 4y agoIn France indoor ice rinks are getting closed too. Again, it's trivial but they consume lots of energy.
- ceejayoz 4y agoSo will permitting extortion of an entire continent by a dictatorship. The goal is not to permanently ration. The goal is to get through the winter, so there’s time for the longer term fixes to be put in place.
- ben_w 4y agoFortunately, not all energy consumption is gas.
- onlyrealcuzzo 4y agoPlease tell me how keeping your house at 70 degrees and wearing warm clothing instead of 72 degrees and wearing a t-shirt is impoverishment.
- rsynnott 4y agoIf you look at the current plans in most countries, they're largely about reducing waste and excessive usage. I mean... you could consider not being allowed to heat your private swimming pool "impoverishment", but probably only if you were comically wealthy and entitled. (I'm actually a little surprised just _how_ un-aggressive the plans generally are.)
- papito 4y agoThis is going to be an "at your own risk" thing. If a country wants to build its economy around energy supplies from a regime that has shown it can and will use the energy tap as leverage and as a weapon, don't run crying back to mommy. I think everyone understands that.
- Schroedingersat 4y agohttps://www.pv-magazine.com/2022/08/02/hysata-brings-capillary-fed-eletrolyzer-tech-closer-to-commercial-production/ https://www.pv-magazine.com/2022/08/02/hysata-brings-capilla... https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2542435118301910 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S254243511... Throw in some <$100/kWh 4-12hr storage, and it's starting to look really appealing to make your own.
- kryptiskt 4y agoHopefully the end game will be to see this as an opportunity to do something against climate change and lower the gas consumption permanently. I doubt that will happen though.
- pydry 4y agoMe too. A flagging economy would make capital investments in green energy even more difficult. If China decides to sanction us we will also lose access to most of the underpriced green energy. A flagging economy, no gas and skyrocketing solar panel/wind turbine prices will mean a lot more coal. Europe didnt make enough hay while the sun was shining.
- pydry 4y agoI think Russian bet is that Europe would take 3-7 years to shift dependence away from Russian gas and that in the mean time a lack of access to cheap energy will lead to economic collapse, which will ultimately make the shift even harder. Putin is not testing our resolve but our ability. I suspect the goal is also also to trigger conflicts between EU member nations over energy scarcity. E.g. Germany has enough gas to last Germany for the winter so it prioritizes Germany and throws Lithuania under the bus so Lithuania lashes out, etc. A short term scarcity will lead to long term fractures - maybe even EU exits. Meanwhile, this opens the door for politicians who will make peace with Russia and bring the gas taps back online and revive a sputtering economy - a role that Orban seems to be trying to fill pre-emptively.
- ben_w 4y agoMm. Plausibly what they think. I don't know when countries typically shift from economic conflict to kinetic conflict, but I hope that Russian intelligence isn't dumb/arrogant enough to assume that transition has zero probability.
- foverzar 4y agoRussia hoping for European economic collapse would be just as stupid as Europe hoping for Russia's economic collapse. They are too entangled at this point for either to survive the collapse of another.
- dvfjsdhgfv 4y ago> I assume the taps from Russia will turn back on Why? The current trend is to work hard in order to reduce any form of business with Russia that would help them to rebuild the army and become a threat again.
- Hamuko 4y agoI assume that turning the taps back on would be seen as a short-term thing in order to fill storages and avoid short-term economic/humanitarian domestic issues. There's surely no country left left in the EU that considers Russia to be a tolerable long-term trading partner, except maybe for Hungary.
- ethbr0 4y agoI don't think even Hungary trusts Russia as a trading partner... they just see them as useful to Hungary. Especially right now, when they can leverage the Russian situation and annoy the EU by striking favorable deals.
- benj111 4y agoAnd just after that quote I said: >but it has shown itself to be an unreliable supply Russia is using gas to try and keep Europe out of the conflict. Once the war ends that ceases to be a motivator. Thus I assume they will turn the taps back on. That doesn't mean we want to rely on it which is the whole point of the question. Victory in Ukraine doesn't end this, so what's the end game. Is there going to be a further push for renewables? Gas from other sources? What's the time frames?
- dvfjsdhgfv 4y ago> Russia is using gas to try and keep Europe out of the conflict. But it's not working, is it? Practically the whole Europe is helping Ukraine, sending weapons and everything we can to help. It's not the question of how much gas Russia offers, it's the question of how much Europe is willing to take from them. Russia's status is very close to North Korea now - it's just unethical to make business with a state that got mentally stuck in XIX century and still thinks killing innocent people to grab more land is a good strategy.
- Saig6 4y agoI assume countries in the EU will no longer eschew longer gas contracts in favor of the spot market. The contracts have always been available and you might not have much faith in Russia any more but Europes second largest gas provider, Norway is still here. It's only a matter of making the choice.
- MandieD 4y agoA view from Germany: Up to Russian invasion this February: old oil furnaces were being avidly replaced with natural gas ones. Solar installations were starting to slack off. Lots of re-roofing and new exterior wall insulation. Since then: no slacking in the roofing and exterior wall insulation, but now everyone has a keen interest in heat pumps, and solar panels are being installed everywhere. Gonna be hard to convince people to take their chances again with a fuel from such an unreliable source in the next few years, I think, especially if this is a bad winter and rationing happens.
- hellweaver666 4y agoI'm currently renovating a house. My government are offering subsidies if you disconnect your gas supply and go all-electric. We'll be doing that alongside full solar (possibly with battery) and heat-pumps for heating/cooling.
- TacticalCoder 4y agoBe careful though: there are regions in the EU where electricity prices went crazy up. I know people who had a fixed plan at 120 EUR / month from an electricity company that went belly up who needed to take a new plan. My brother went from 120 EUR / month to 400 EUR / month for his electricity bill. Sister-in-law got 6 K EUR year-on-year adjustment for her electricity bill (so 500 EUR more per month on average). And a friend, for a big house granted, went from 120 EUR / month to 800 EUR / month.
- z9znz 4y agoFew people want to plan ahead (and spend the money that goes along with being prepared)... until they are in trouble. I won't say that good things have come from this war, but it certainly is a wake-up call for countries to get their future plans in better order. There is simply no excuse for the most industrially advanced country in the world (Germany) to have slacked off so much when it comes to energy. It must be some political angle, because not too many years ago Germany was one of the leaders in expanding their renewable energy sources.
- TacticalCoder 4y ago
- mlang79 4y ago
- xwdv 4y agoIf climate change doesn’t bless Europe with a warmer winter this year I see no way that a bunch of people won’t freeze to death.
- MandieD 4y agoAt least in Germany, not everyone uses gas heating - lots of domestic and institutional oil furnaces and tanks still around, like the recently-filled one in our basement that holds two bad winters’ worth of luxurious (21-22 C) warmth, or four normal winters’ worth of careful (18-19 C) usage. If needed, we can clamp down even further, closing off some rooms. My husband’s parents switched to gas two years ago when their old oil furnace finally became irreparable, so my husband set them up with a diesel heater in their bedroom with enough fuel for two or three days, and the intention of bringing them down here in the worst case. I’m sure that families and friends all over Germany and the rest of the EU have similar plans.
- EiZei 4y agoWhy?
- Aachen 4y agoAside from maybe the coldest two weeks, the climate is not even uncomfortable if you are inside (no wind or precipitation), wear thick clothing, and move a little. If you do physical labor, you're going to be sweating. Nobody is going to die from cold in western Europe's semi-oceanic climate, even without any gas at all. For the vulnerable, there's plenty of alternative fuels. But we do have gas and lots of it, so this seems entirely baseless.
- xwdv 4y agoSo I guess the talk of Europe having a hard winter coming up is entirely overblown.
- MandieD 4y agoEconomic disruption and having to keep our homes and offices a few degrees cooler than we’re used to will make this a “hard winter” for the two or three generations of western Europeans largely used to staying as warm as they like and general prosperity. But not “hard winter” in terms of people freezing to death. Even if all gas were cut off (and it isn’t, Norway is still exporting) too many of us still have oil heating and/or wood-burning stoves, and are not completely anti-social. Plus, as another commenter said, it’s not that cold in a lot of Europe all winter long. And the places that are? Why, they’re the ones most motivated not to let Putin have his way with their countries and were the angriest with Germany over Nordstream - the Baltics and Poland.
- lqet 4y agoTo put this in relation, here is a comparison of gas storage capacities in Europe: https://erdgasspeicher.de/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/ines_gasspeicher_kapazitaete_eu.jpg https://erdgasspeicher.de/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/ines_ga... Here is table from Sunday which also shows the total gas stored in each country, along with the capacity ("Working volume"), annual consumption, and injection / withdrawal capacities: https://agsi.gie.eu/ https://agsi.gie.eu/ Missing from the list is Switzerland, which does not have any gas storage capacities at all.
- yread 4y agoYou can see it graphically (with more data) at https://gasdashboard.entsog.eu/ https://gasdashboard.entsog.eu/ (scroll down a bit) There's also Bert's Gazmon for quick overview https://berthub.eu/gazmon/ https://berthub.eu/gazmon/
- pydry 4y agoThe UK has 35Mtpa LNG port capacity and spain has 44Mtpa which is more than the rest put together though (Germany has 0!), so it probably balances out in terms of screwedness. The UK also produces about half of it natural gas. Each country has differing reliance on natural gas too. The UK is particularly reliant, for example. Only the Netherlands looks well prepared - 8.8Mtpa of LNG import capacity, 120TWh of storage and a relatively small population. Somebody should make a model of country per country screwedness that takes all of this into account.
- malcsm 4y agoAccording to a recent Lord's debate the UK only has 5 days supply at peak demand, but are planning to re-open a mothballed storage facility to double this. As the UK gets 45% of its gas from its own domestic resources, the gas fields can be considered a huge gas storage facility. https://hansard.parliament.uk/lords/2022-09-07/debates/9AFA9433-EDC9-404A-97AE-6C7E607F0B6A/Debate https://hansard.parliament.uk/lords/2022-09-07/debates/9AFA9...
- Theodores 4y agoAll models and predictions will be based on assumptions, for example, there is a movement to not pay bills. What if the people not paying decide that, since they are not paying, they might as well use as much as possible? All it would take is a charismatic populist to come along and to promote such a thing for any reserves to be gone. I am not sure that having LNG ports makes much difference if you have a minor currency such as Sterling and you have to just print more of it to pay for LNG. Other customers might have a manufacturing base or lots of gold, which would trump paper money.
- type0 4y agoUkraine is at 28.4%, that probably speaks how much reserve storage they have. After the war it will be important location for Azerbaijan gas transit (via Georgia and Black Sea). The pipeline will take some time to build, but it will make it more likely that they eventually join the EU and NATO as well.
- WastingMyTime89 4y ago
- badpun 4y agoBy your metric, the most "socially backward" country that joined the EU was the United Kingdom, as its the only one that actually exited so far. EDIT: regarding your edit - yep, Ukraine is currently a very backwards and crappy country, basically no better than Russia. While Russia is propped up by infinite monies flowing from the ground, Ukraine doesn't have it, so it's much more dilapidated. It's a small miracle that it didn't collapse economically and became Putin's client, just as Belarus had before. However, the one huge difference is that Ukraine doesn't have centuries of imperialistic and autocractic traditions that define Russia - so, it's population is not excited about subjugating other nations, and is ok with democracy as a form of government.
- WastingMyTime89 4y agoLast time I checked the UK didn’t have to face widespread homophobic attacks conducted by groups advocating discrimination and violence, widespread gender-based violence, ineffective investigation of violence against journalists, impunity of police and issues relating to bringing torturers to justice. Because that was the reality in Ukraine before the war.
- wizardofdos 4y agoYeah maybe check again: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_violence_against_LGBT_people_in_the_United_Kingdom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_violence_against_LG... Considering the rest of your comment picturing Ukraine as some backwater (post)soviet hell hole: You've never been there. You've never even talked to someone from there.
- nanl2053 4y agoIt would be much more interesting to see how many days of gas runway each country has based on historical usage.
- 1ris 4y agoThat would be a very useless data, as gas consumption depends on the price. And the price is at a historic high, so we simply don't know what that means. German Grid regulator BNetzA created forecasts based on historic consumption and assumed savings. But right now we have storage level way above even the most wildly optimistic scenario. This forcast is so hard i don't think it has any merit. You can have a look at the AGSI+ [1], they list a Stock/Consuption ratio as 22%. But this number is IHMO meaningless, as it does not mean all is well for 22% of a year = 78 days, and than everything collapses. [1] https://agsi.gie.eu/ https://agsi.gie.eu/
- Guthur 4y ago
- 1ris 4y agoSorry, but what you write nonsense and incoherent. >What utter nonsense, of course historical trends are important, we've had high prices before. Not remotely as high as we have had. Drawing conclusions from price elasticity at 25€ to price elasticity at 300€ is nothing but pure speculations. >. Also many companies would normally hedge the prices, after all large factories and power stations don't just shutdown because of price fluctuations. Made up financial instruments are useless when the counterparty simply does not fullfill their contracts. Right now we care about actual prices, for actual, physical delivery. >The problem we have now is that the idiotic policies of EU governments will make the price essentially infinite because there will be no f'ing gas. Conterpoint: The price is not infinite. What's happening with the infinite money glitch for buying gas for storage is that the price of the scarcity in the winter was priced in since this spring. Spreading out a scarcity event to something longer and less serve gives markets time to adjust. There is nothing idiotic about this, it's pure common sense. >This year is massively exceptional Yes, that's my point, why forecasts do not make much sense. >aforementioned strategic leadership from the governments but we've had plenty of "normal" years to draw consumption trends from. And what's your point? Is the not exceptional and we can make forecasts, or is it infinite? Your post is completely incoherent and does not make any sense.
- Traubenfuchs 4y agoThose numbers ARE ABSOLUTELY WORHTLESS. "capacity filled in percent" is a WORTHLESS METRIC that tells the lay reader NOTHING at all. Austria might have a max capacity of 60% of their yearly demand, Germany might have 200% (made up numbers for illustration). In that case with full capacity, Austria could survive 4 months, while Germany could go two years. Yes, this disregards cross-country sharing, but even averaged across different countries, percentage means nothing. It doesn't tell us anything. The one and only question is: "How long can we go without new gas?" and percentage values don't answer it. Capacity should be displayed either in average-demand days or a timeframe (= How many days could we satisfy demand with our stored gas alone?).
- derriz 4y agoThe answer to your question "How long can we go without new gas?" would be a meaningless metric if not accompanied with a large amount of qualification. What is meant by "without new gas"? Without LNG shipments? Without local/European produced NG? Or just without Russian NG imports? Without any imports? What does it mean "to go"? To consume at some historical rate? Consumption varies with NG prices - recently consumption has been curtailed as a result of high NG prices. At a macro scale, NG consumption has been falling. Europe-wide annual consumption is about 20% less than it was 10 years ago. And an unqualified time answer - say one month, for example - would be meaningless as the rate of gas consumption is highly seasonal at various scales (daily, weekly, annually). A winter month is not equal to a summer month for example.
- Traubenfuchs 4y ago> What is meant by "without new gas"? I guess that could all be calculated and presented and give us an idea. The looming threat is Russia not giving us any of their gas now, other sources are "safe", so I guess that's the baseline: How long can we go without Russian gas? > And an unqualified time answer - say one month, for example - would be meaningless as the rate of gas consumption is highly seasonal at various scales (daily, weekly, annually). A winter month is not equal to a summer month for example. That's why I discerned between "average consumption days" and "timeframe from now on / day x on".
- Neil44 4y agoThis is strange, everything I heard is that Germany is in trouble with the gas situation but here it seems they have the most stored gas? Is this correct in content and meaning?
- danhor 4y agoLots of European countries are having trouble with gas, Germany was (IMHO) singled out due to being content about their situation of being reliant on russia (see NS2) before the invasion.
- l5870uoo9y 4y agoOther variables come into play as well. A mild and windy (lots of wind power) would help keep energy cost lower. From what I have seen, currently energy cost are expected to triple however worst case scenario could be 10-15 times increase. The effects on society and economic would be enormous.
- pydry 4y agoThey also have the largest population, produce no gas, have no LNG import capacity and have a bunch of industries built around cheap natural gas. Storage isnt the whole picture.
- Semaphor 4y agoWe are/were even exporting gas-produced electricity to France because so many of their nuclear plants were failing. edit: Here’s a source: https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/germany-exports-power-france-urges-savings-home-88802533 https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/germany-expor...
- rasz 4y agoGermany secret: They went into panic buy mode and started severely overpaying for gas in order to secure all of the supply they might need. This not only made gas more expensive for everyone else, but also influenced electricity prices.
- lifeisstillgood 4y agoIn Snow Crash, there was a giant CIA earth that held all the data for everything and you could zoom in and out. While the UX is probably "executive demo" rather than "daily power user", this and other data is perfect for such an approach. It tells a meaningful OSInT story. Basically, as a data user, where are my flying cars?
- jl6 4y agoReally hoping to see power2gas facilities scale up. Gas storage seems like the most credible solution for stable, season-scale, grid-scale energy storage. Of course there are large conversion inefficiencies in a chain like wind->electricity->electrolysis->hydrogen->CCGT, but that’s where massive overbuilding of renewable generation capacity comes in. The UK is aiming to have 50GW of wind capacity by 2030. It needs at least 300GW to decarbonize and ensure energy security.
- gazoakley 4y agoWhen I wrote the code that published that for Storengy UK around 4 years ago I never expected AGSI would get featured on HN. Strange world we live in.
- rjzzleep 4y ago
- emptysongglass 4y agoIt's not virtue signaling to want to run as fast as possible from the supply of a known aggressor that won't stop trying to invade its neighbors. Germany got itself into this mess it was warned for decades not to. It's going to hurt to decouple, that's a fact.
- cjrp 4y ago> run as fast as possible from the supply of a known aggressor that won't stop trying to invade its neighbors This could literally describe China though.
- foverzar 4y ago> It's not virtue signaling to want to run as fast as possible from the supply of a known aggressor that won't stop trying to invade But it is hardly a point of principle, given how OK everyone had been with the supply of all the other known aggressors. If it's not virtue signaling and it's obviously not a principle, then what is it?
- mcintyre1994 4y agoI think this would be a lot more useful if it showed the capacity. Our problem in the UK isn't keeping our reserves at capacity, it's that they're tiny. Also what does Daily Trend mean here? I thought it'd be the percentage change since yesterday, but the UK having a negative daily trend and being at 100% now wouldn't work with that.
- noja 4y ago> I think this would be a lot more useful if it showed the capacity. Our problem in the UK isn't keeping our reserves at capacity, it's that they're tiny. You are right. Check the "Stock/Consumption %" column here: https://agsi.gie.eu/ https://agsi.gie.eu/ (choose the correct UK) The UK (post-Brexit) currently has 1.2% of yearly capacity stored, and reserves are at 100% I wonder what the UK gas reserves are for? Demand smoothing?
- mcintyre1994 4y agoThanks, that source has a lot more data! The Stock / Consumption field is especially interesting for comparison. The UK's largest gas storage plant closed in 2017 (https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/jun/20/uk-gas-storage-prices-rough-british-gas-centrica https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/jun/20/uk-gas-stor...), AFAIK there's been no effort to replace it since then. Not sure why it's been kept so low though.
- mytailorisrich 4y agoWhat's rarely mentioned is that many European countries have massive reserves of recoverable shale gas but have banned fracking and are thus depending on imported gas... That's one of the reasons the US are cashing in right now while Europe is having an "energy crisis".
- risyachka 4y agoCurrently in EU renewable energy is practically 40%. So there is zero point in digging holes in the ground. They can easily buy the rest and quickly grow renewable energy share (basically what they are doing now).
- mytailorisrich 4y agoEurope is heavily dependent on gas, as the current situation painfully shows. It seems very premature to claim that there is "zero point digging holes in the ground" and odd to claim that they can "easily buy the rest" when energy costs are currently at crisis level.
- wikfwikf 4y agoDo you think that Qatar, UAE, Saudi and Iran are going to stop exporting natural gas imminently?
- mytailorisrich 4y agoThat's not the point, is it? Although they might depending on the circumstances (again, as we can see right now).
- wikfwikf 4y agoThe point is that 'digging holes in the ground' isn't inherently more secure than making sure that you can import fuel from other countries. Both involve a certain amount of risk and uncertainty. Both require preparation and planning, and some degree of subordination of other national interests. This is perhaps one of the lessons of the Ukraine conflict - Russia is still exporting gas to Germany and Germany is still importing it, despite diplomatic relations between the two countries being at a nadir. It's simply not in either country's interest not to carry on with the commercial relationship.
- piokoch 4y agoTypical statistics that tells exactly nothing. If country A has 10 liters gas storage and it is 100% full and country B has 10 000 gas storage 50% full? Who is in a better shape? Hard to say, still - maybe country A uses 5 liters a year and country B 10 000 000 liters a year? Or vice versa. What if country A has long term LPG purchase deals to gasport (like Poland does) and does not have to pay spot price, etc. Guys behind this clicks farm claim to "Telling data-driven stories about politics, climate, economics, and more.", but they tell no story, I would not trust them.
- mindcrash 4y agoGee, it looks like that if we don't sell anything (but with this gov you never know) we (as in Netherlands) might be dodging the proverbial bullet this winter. But I am personally counting on the fact that this gov will fuck up as usual ... always plan for the worst, then it can only be better...