OREANDA-NEWS. Europe runs the risk of being left without gas in the next two months due to frosts and a shortage of fuel in storage facilities. Bloomberg reports.

According to the newspaper, the preconditions for the deficit are a decrease in its own production of natural gas and the absence of additional supplies. “There are two coldest months of winter ahead, and there are fears that Europe may run out of gas,” the article says.

"It is not entirely clear how the required level of gas reserves in storage facilities can be achieved without additional supplies from Russia via Nord Stream 2 or existing routes," said Massimo Di Odoardo, vice president of consulting company Wood Mackenzie.

Earlier, Deputy Prime Minister Novak called the cold winter one of the main reasons for the rise in gas prices in Europe. He pointed out that the European Commission is "purposefully" abandoning long-term contracts in favor of spot contracts. As a result, in the summer, European countries were faced with a situation where they failed to fill the storage facilities, and in winter, due to low temperatures, the time for pumping into underground storage facilities was reduced by three weeks.

Gas reserves in Europe have depleted after the Russian supplier stopped booking additional capacities for gas transit via the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline to Germany since December 21. According to Gazprom, European buyers do not make bids themselves. Due to the freezing of supplies, the price of gas in Europe for the first time in history exceeded $ 2,150 per thousand cubic meters.