The gas storage in Chiren is filled to 17.12%, in case of suspension of gas supplies it may reach a month

In the event of a shutdown in Russian gas supplies, natural gas at the Chiren Underground Gas Storage Facility (Chiren UGS) will arrive in just over a month under limited use. This was explained by the executive director of Bulgartransgaz Vladimir Malinov on Wednesday night to BTV.

There are currently about 100 million cubic meters of natural gas in the Chiren gas storage facility. A shutdown of Russian gas will trigger an emergency plan and a restrictive regime. The gas will be directed mainly to district heating companies and gas distribution companies, which serve household consumers and only for key enterprises.

"I believe that we could provide the most vulnerable clients with appropriate restrictions for them within 30 days," Malinov said. He specified that on March 22 the consumption was 11 million cubic meters.

Meanwhile, data from European gas storage operators show that the Chiren UGS as of March 22 was filled to 17.12%, or 0.9951 TWh, as the withdrawn volume, or on the order of 8.51 GWh. A year earlier, the gas storage in Chiren was filled to 1.3455 TWh, or 21.46%. At that time, however, there was no military conflict in Ukraine, and there was no danger of cutting off Russian gas supplies.

As of March 22, gas storage facilities in Europe are generally filled to 25.62%, or up to 284.6175 TWh. The pumped volume in March is 2014.95 GWh / d, and the withdrawn 1719.50 GWh / d

The data show that the countries in Europe continue to block gas storage facilities and in general the situation in some of them is improving. There are eight countries (with Bulgaria) in which the emptying of gas storage facilities continues. For example, in Austria, the total volume in the country's five gas storage facilities decreased to 12.54%, with four of them continuing to withdraw, but one in RAG Energy Storage has a boost. There are seven countries in which the injection of blue fuel continues.