18 Mar 2019 12:07

Gazprom estimates gas migration from its storage facility in Germany to adjacent Wintershall deposit at 0.8 bcm

MOSCOW. March 18 (Interfax) - Gazprom has written off 762 million cubic meters of active gas reserves at Western Europe's largest Reden underground gas storage facility in Germany. According to current prices, the value of this volume may be around $160 million or over 10 billion rubles.

The Astora company, which manages the storage facility, reduced its estimate of active gas in the reservoir from 2.93 bcm to 2.16 bcm on February 21. This volume represents 25% of the volume of active gas in the facility at that time.

"The volume of active gas in the facility available for the market was revised due to migration of gas," the press service for Astora parent company Gazprom Germania GmbH told Interfax. "There is no risk of environmental impact or gas leakage," Gazprom Germania said.

Beginning in the 1950s, the Wintershall company produced natural gas at the Reden gas deposit. After its depletion in the medium-term outlook, Europe's largest gas storage facility was created on the site and has been operational since 1993. In 2015, control over the facility was transferred to Gazprom via an exchange of assets. In 2017, information on the migration of gas from the facility to neighboring horizons was disclosed.

Prior to the exchange of assets, this was not an issue, as gas migration took place within the assets of one controlling entity. Earlier, Wintershall said that the volume of gas migration was "negligible". An independent outside consultant was hired to estimate the volume of crossflow.

"Gazprom and Wintershall are working on a solution," the Gazprom Germania press service said.