Portugal’s underground gas storage levels well above European target

The gas in underground storage facilities in Portugal was around 103% of the firm commercial capacity available on an annual basis on June 30, above the European Commission’s targets.

According to the Bulletin on the Use of Gas Infrastructures from the Energy Services Regulatory Authority (ERSE), “the current value of gas stored in underground caverns already exceeds the 80% target (the gas stock, on June 30, 2022, was around 103% of the firm commercial capacity available on an annual basis).”

The target in question relates to the European Union regulation on gas storage obligations, which includes the minimum filling of 90% of underground infrastructure, the safeguard for countries without storage infrastructure and for countries with very significant storage capacity, and the possibility of meeting the filling target considering the stocks of liquefied natural gas in storage if the capacity is greater than 4% of average annual consumption.

According to the bulletin, the Liquefied Natural Gas terminal in Sines was at its maximum use for 11 days in 2021, compared to six days in 2020 and two days in 2019.

Already this year, 3,521 tanks were loaded in Sines during the first half of the year, which transported 1,613 GWh (gigawatt hour), equivalent to 5.1% of total gas consumption or 13.5% of consumption in the distribution networks.