EU stores record levels of natural gas on a milder winter than anticipated, reports Financial Times. 

The bloc storage of 55.7% of maximum capacity in the start of April, is the highest level for early April since 2011, according to Infrastructure Europe.

Outperforming the last five years’ average by 20%, Financial Times reports that inventory levels have climbed to 56.5% in the last two weeks.

EU energy commissioner Kadri Simson expresses delight in the stockpile data and hopes of greater bloc scope to cut imports of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG).

“By increasing the share of renewables and further diversifying sources, full phaseout from Russian LNG will be possible for some member states,” Simson tells Financial Times.

Last year, when Russia slashed pipelined gas flows to Europe, LNG imports from Russia rose to unprecedented levels as Europeans scrambled to stock up on gas for the winter.

Last year’s LNG imports totaled at 22.1 billion cubic meters, a 39% rise on 2021. Thus, Russian LNG comprised 16% of all seaborne gas imports, according to data from Refinitiv.