BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 25. At present, gas storage is quite unevenly distributed around the world, with the vast majority of it in Europe, US and Russia, Trend reports with reference to the Global Gas Report 2022 (GGR) released by the International Gas Union (IGU), Snam and Rystad Energy.
“In addition to investing in more storage capacity, governments can impose mandates for minimum storage levels. This has been a common existing practice with oil, where governments and private practices hold inventories to safeguard the economy and maintain energy security. As gas has become a global commodity subject to greater impact by unpredictable external events, considering implementation of strategic reserves for gas may be appropriate, as for oil,” reads the report.
The European Commission has announced this mechanism in the RePower EU plan, proposing a requirement for underground gas storage across the EU to be filled up to at least 90 percent of its capacity by 1 October every year. The 90 percent filling level is enough to cover an estimated 17 percent of EU’s average annual gas demand in 2020 and 2021.
The table below shows Top 10 countries for underground gas storage capacity:
Country |
Storage capacity (billion cubic meters) |
US |
139 |
Russia |
91 |
China |
37 |
Ukraine |
34 |
Canada |
28 |
Germany |
28 |
Italy |
24 |
Turkey |
15 |
France |
14 |
Austria |
13 |
---
Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn