This is unheard of. While the stoppage of Russian gas deliveries caused a shortage in France, the country is finally doing much better than expected. Its gas stocks have never been so full, and will have to be “a little” emptied in the coming weeks to respect the usual “technical constraints” in these infrastructures, the manager of the gas transmission network GRTgaz said on Wednesday.
The level of stocks reached 80% of capacity on January 15, well above the average of 55% observed over the last six years at the same time, reports the manager in his update of the “gas outlook” for the winter published on its website. The level of storage is such today that they need to “breathe”, that is to say to have outgoing and incoming movement. “We will therefore have to empty them a little”, summarized Thierry Trouvé, general manager of GRTgaz, with AFP. Their level reaches 106 TWh, i.e. nearly a quarter of the gas consumed in France in 2021 (474 TWh).
80% to 60%
“The technical constraints of French storage impose on them (…) “breathing” to maintain their performance for the winters to come. A significant drop in the filling level is therefore to be expected in the coming weeks to comply with this constraint”, explains GRTgaz in its note. Stocks could then drop to a level closer to 60%, “it’s a significant drop, but which takes place every year”, according to Thierry oublie.
“Gas suppliers who reserve storage capacities have a maximum level of quantity of gas not to be exceeded on a certain date, so they must take steps to empty them sufficiently”, he specified. “We can expect, in the coming weeks, that they will take out a little more storage and bring in a little less,” added the general manager.
In France, natural gas is mainly stored in aquifers, a permeable subsoil layer soaked in water. However, this type of storage needs to be emptied and refilled regularly to maintain good technical gas performance, particularly in terms of flow.