“For Europe as a whole, this is a typical situation now.

Because in the summer they pumped very little gas into underground storage, because they were always afraid that the price was going up.

They always thought that the price in summer cannot be more than in winter.

We were afraid to buy, we thought that now the peak of the price, then it will go down, so we will wait, but in the end we waited until winter came.

As a result, during the heating season, the Europeans came out with very small volumes of gas in underground storages, ”the expert said.

According to him, previously underground storage facilities in Europe were emptied in late February - early March, but now, as the specialist noted, "they will be at a fairly low level in January." 

“The less gas there is in underground storage, the less you can get from there every day.

This means that it will be necessary to compensate for the missing gas, which you do not get from the underground storage, with current imports, and increase purchases from abroad, "the interlocutor of RT explained.

According to the analyst's forecasts, the situation on the European gas market will deteriorate, and the gas deficit will grow.

“Most likely, gas prices will continue to rise.

And we will see in the spot markets $ 1300, $ 1400 and more per 1000 cubic meters.

But the Europeans will simply have to buy some volumes even at such prices, because part of the gas is used for heating, and they cannot leave people without heating, ”the specialist concluded.

Earlier, the executive director of the German Association of Underground Gas Storage Operators (INES), Sebastian Bleschke, said in a comment to Handelsblatt that the occupancy of gas storage facilities in Germany had dropped to "historically low levels" below 60%.