Underground gas storage Bergermeer in the Netherlands was put into full commercial operation on April 1st.
The storage has a capacity of 4.1 bcm that makes it the largest gas storage in Europe with third-party access rights, Gazprom Export said in a statement.
Gazprom Group participated directly in the implementation of this project providing the necessary volume of ‘cushion gas’ and contracting 1.9 bcm of storage capacity, according to the statement.
On April 1, 2014, Gazprom Group started injection of active gas into UGS Bergermeer and now fully exploits storage capacity in accordance with the signed contracts.
The UGS is located in close proximity to major European gas hubs TTF, NBP and Zeebrugge and has connection to high-calorific gas network. The capacity of the storage allows for a significant strengthening of security of supply of the ‘blue fuel’ to Europe, the statement said.
UGS Bergermeer, the construction of which started in 2012, is located near the city of Alkmaar. It has been built in the depleted Bergermeer gas reservoir. Today, after reaching its project capacity the UGS is able to supply 2.5 million Dutch households a year.
The operator of UGS Bergermeer is TAQA (60% share), the remaining 40% belong to state-owned Dutch company EBN.
Image: Gas Storage Bergermeer