According to data from Gas Storage Europe the UK’s gas stocks stand at just below 94 per cent whereas at the same time last year the UK had just 79 per cent full.
Reuters Point Carbon gas analyst Oliver Sanderson said the UK’s seasonal storage facility at Rough could be full “in about 16 days” but that the current stop-start injection pattern means there will still be some gas storage injection in the first week of September.
“The reality is we could see a small volume of injections into early September, but I would expect it to be full by the time it is scheduled to go down for three weeks annual maintenance on 6 September,” Sanderson said.
In 2013 the first week of September saw gas storage levels at an average of 85 per cent, after a summer of aggressive storage injection to refill stocks which were depleted following a long, cold winter.
Storage levels plunged to near zero in April 2013, only reaching above 98 per cent in November later that year.
Due to the most recent winter which was mild and charactrised by low gas demand, the UK has had less of a need to inject gas at the rate seen last year but is still on track to meet its storage goal in line with the schedule seen in 2012.