According to the Hungarian regulator on 25 August, gas storage facilities already contained 226.7 million cubic metres (mcm) more natural gas than the EU filling target, which required Hungary to inject gas equivalent to 35 per cent of the country’s annual gas consumption over the last five years by 1 November.
EU Member States adopted new storage legislation in June to strengthen the security of gas supply ahead of the upcoming winter as the continent is facing the threat of supply disruptions from Russia.
The EU Gas Storage Regulation require Member States to fill storage facilities to 80 per cent of capacity by November this year – and to 90 per cent in the years after.
To ease the burden on countries with higher storage capacity – including Hungary – the EU decided to limit the filling obligation to 35 per cent of the country’s annual gas consumption over the last five years.
The gas storage regulation specifies the filling targets for each country in a monthly breakdown from August to November. Based on this schedule Hungary must compulsorily store 3.65 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas by 1 November, which amounts to 35 per cent of the country’s five-year average consumption.
According to the data of the Hungarian Energy and Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, by 25 August, 3.88 bcm of natural gas were injected into Hungarian gas storage facilities, which exceeds the filling target for November already by 226.7 mcm.
The gas in Hungary’s storage facilities corresponds to 37.17 per cent of the average domestic gas consumption over the past 5 years and 98 per cent of the annual residential consumption.
The Hungarian regulator noted that Hungary ranks fourth in the European Union considering storage level in proportion to domestic consumption. Regarding the total capacity, Hungarian storage facilities are 61.31 per cent full.
