Western European storage at record levels

Increased security of supply concerns brought about by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, has increased the importance of having sufficient gas in storage in the event of a disruption of Russian gas through the Ukraine.  By the end of October,  Western European inventory reached a record 61 bcm, aided by healthy summer winter price differentials which has improved the  commercial position  of storage.  This reverses a trend of reduced storage utilisation in recent years.