Spain has never had gas reserves very close to home. Energy companies have accelerated the filling of the warehouses as part of the European shield against Russia for the coming winter and have already managed to raise it. up to date 99.8% of full capacity, according to the records enagasthe administrator of the Spanish gas system, which updates this data daily.
This The European Union requires member states to increase their reserves As part of a community strategy to cut its massive continental dependence on Russian gas amid the invasion of Ukraine, to ensure supply and mitigate the risk of a new price spiral to the economy. Currently, Spain is the member state with the highest warehouse occupancy and has reached its target of exceeding the mandatory occupancy rate of 90% for the next 1 November, six months ago.
Gas injection into the tank hasn’t stopped increasing in recent months, surpassing the equivalent of 34,000 gigawatts (GWh) in deposits this week. Enagás assumes absolute filling Reaching 100% of available capacity before the end of the injection campaign at the end of October.
Those 34,000 GWh now accumulated are the same absolute amount the Spanish gas system reached in November of last year, but the exact percentage back then was officially lower than it is today. This is because the maximum national underground storage capacity, which the Ministry of Ecological Transition updates every year, is slightly lower this year compared to the previous year. While the total capacity was 35,342 GWh in 2022, 34,179 GWh was interrupted for this year due to different technical adjustments (for example maintenance tasks, temporary unavailability or merging of wells).
full operability
Last year, in November, with 96.64% of warehouses, Enagás went so far as to order the delay of some gas entries into the system. The operator has suspended tenders for a few days to inject gas into the underground storage tanks and has activated a preventive mechanism to delay ship evacuation if necessary due to high occupancy at the regasification plants. This year, none of these protection systems were activated and gas inputs were not stopped, the injection activity has been fully operational in recent months.
In addition to three underground warehouses, Spain has extensive regasification plants (concentrating one-third of all regasification capacity in the EU) and currently fill 74% of their capacity, with 18,450 GWh according to official Enagás documents. The capacity of the park, consisting of seven regasification plants on the Spanish market, was expanded a few weeks ago when the El Musel plant in Asturias became operational as a logistics storage centre.
rate reduction
As the reserves are now about to run out of capacity, the Government is preparing a new reduction in the rates used by energy companies to make it easier for them to fill their gas tanks next year. Execution plans to implementAverage 4.9% discount on different fares Operators must pay to inject, store or extract gas from Spanish underground storage facilities from 1 October next and for twelve months, as outlined in the proposed ministerial order on gas system fees and is currently subject to a public hearing process. .
The government is already taking measures to make it easier for gas companies to comply with these fill requirements and save a million dollar blow to their accounts. The executive has approved the exemption of energy companies from underground storage act payment until they reach new national and community obligations to increase their gas reserves.
This partial exemption from payments will only apply until March 2024 for additional gas that operators must inject into tanks to exceed the target of 90% of their total capacity. For the remaining transactions in deposits, energy groups have to pay current fees that the Government is currently seeking to discount between October of this year and the end of September of the following year (known as the “gas year”). 2024″, according to industry terminology).
The executive began to defend itself against the Kremlin’s energy pulse at the dawn of the war in Ukraine, and already at the end of March last year – a month after the start of the military occupation – increased its security stock obligations. Gas traders from 20 to 27.5 days of firm consumption. New EU filling obligations for this year, up to 90% of warehouses, I have increased this required stock level above 30 days of consumption.