Russia’s Gazprom signals tough winter ahead for Europe amid gas pressures

The CEO of Russian gas giant Gazprom, Alexey Miller, summed up the situation with gas reserves in European countries in a single phrase during an interview with TASS on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF).

“There will be winter in Europe,” Miller said in response to a question from the agency about whether the European Union has sufficient gas reserves for the upcoming heating season.

His remarks come as Europe enters the new heating season with its gas storage facilities under greater pressure than in previous years. EU gas storage levels were significantly depleted during the colder-than-usual 2025/26 winter, leaving inventories lower at the start of the 2026 refill season and increasing the amount of gas needed to rebuild reserves.

At the same time, Europe has been relying heavily on LNG to compensate for reduced pipeline supplies, while disruptions in global LNG markets have made storage injections more difficult and costly.

Nevertheless, the European Commission said in July that it saw no immediate threat to gas security for winter 2026/27, arguing that an 80% storage level would be sufficient when combined with Europe’s available LNG import capacity.

By Jeyhun Aghazada