Mild winter means European gas supplies sufficient

Europe’s mildest winter since 2007 has left the region with enough natural gas in storage to cover any future disruption in flows from Ukraine for about 45 days.

European inventories were 49% full as of March 2, from 37% a year ago, according to Gas Infrastructure Europe, a lobby group of pipeline operators in Brussels. That’s equal to about 1½ months of imports from pipelines running through Ukraine, said Oswald Clint, a senior analyst at Sanford C Bernstein & Co in London.

“It isn’t very cold, there is gas in storage, I wouldn’t panic,” said Karen Sund, founder of Sund Energy, which has advised the International Energy Agency and Centrica Plc on gas markets. “Power generators don’t want it anyway.”