EU underground gas storage does not solve gas shortage problems by themselves

Below is a list of main natural gas storage facilities in the EU.

• Europe has more than 168 gas storage sites with a total capacity of 4,000 bcf and?over 40% of these sites are in Germany.
• The Groningen gas field is the largest in the EU and is located in the Netherlands. The gas extraction there has led to the strong earth tremors the region experienced that had affected hundreds of thousands of homes in the area.
• Transylvania gas fields in Romania have over 20 Tcf f proven natural gas reserves.
• Emden and Rehden gas fields in Germany have an active working gas capacity of 1,326 Bcf or a total of over 200 terawatt-hours o of retrievable natural gas.

There is a common misunderstanding of the main purpose of Natural Gas Storage facilities. They are NOT meant to be exclusively relied on during the Autumn/Winter months. They are meant to balance gas consumption on day to day basis. There are also issues of the facilities not being located close to the main consumption area and the gas distribution lines having a limited capacity. That means that even if the facilities are filled over 90% as they currently are in Poland, it does not guarantee that there will be no shortage of gas in winter.3.2 billion cubic meters and consumption is 20.5 billion cubic meters. Simple math shows that operating even for 5-6 months without an additional source of gas could be problematic, especially if winter 2022/2023 will be harsh.