France has never had gas reserves so full, to the point that they will have to be emptied “a little” in the coming weeks to respect the usual “technical restrictions” in these infrastructures, the manager of the gas transmission network said on Wednesday. GRTgaz. The deposits are “historically well filled” with a level that reached 80% of its capacity on Sunday, compared to the 55% average of the last six years at the same time, said the manager in his update of the “gas outlook ” for Winter.
Scrutinized like milk on fire since the summer, these deposits were “crucial” for the passage of winter due to fears linked to the depletion of Russian gas since the start of the war in Ukraine. Ironically, the level of stocks is such that they now need to “breathe”, that is, move in and out. “Therefore, we will have to empty them a bit,” Thierry Trouvé, general manager of GRTgaz, summed up to AFP. Its level reaches 106 TWh, that is, almost a quarter of the gas consumed in France in 2021 (474 TWh).
Mild temperatures
“The technical restrictions of the French storage force them (…) to ‘breathe’ in order to maintain their performance during the coming winters. A significant drop in the fill level is therefore expected in the coming weeks to respect this restriction”, explains GRTgaz in his note. Then the shares could fall to a level closer to 60%, “a significant drop, but one that happens every year,” according to Thierry Trouvée.
While Russian gas represented 17% of the gas consumed in France before the conflict, the country had to turn in 2022 to supplies of Norwegian gas by pipeline and liquefied natural gas (LNG) transported by ship to fill its reserves to almost 100 % before winter and participate in the supply of Europe, in particular Germany, which is highly dependent on Russian gas.
Under these “sustained supplies”, French stocks were also saved thanks to “mild temperatures until mid-November”, which delayed turning on the heating, and the effort to sober up, which resulted in a “drop in consumption ” national. (-12.8% in data corrected for time between August 1 and January 15). Under these conditions, GRTgaz considers “very unlikely” “the risk of a gas volume deficit” during the rest of the winter in France.
Source: BFM TV
