TAQA started to inject gas on Wednesday into its newly-completed Bergermeer gas storage facility in the Netherlands, the Arab Emirates energy company said.

TAQA completed work on Tuesday on the facility, which it says is Europe’s largest third-party access gas storage site and doubles the Netherlands’ seasonal gas storage capacity.

In a statement, it said it would start injecting customers’ gas at full capacity on Wednesday into the reservoir in preparation for the winter heating season.

The site has a capacity of 4.1 bcm of gas, enough to supply 2.5 million Dutch households for a year, TAQA said.

“Gas storage Bergermeer is fully contracted for the 2015/2016 storage season running from 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2016,” TAQA said in a statement. “TAQA will auction capacity for the 2016 storage season in September 2015.”

The facility is located near the city of Alkmaar and consists of the depleted Bergermeer gas reservoir, a gas treatment facility and connecting pipeline network.

TAQA has developed the project together with Dutch state-owned oil and gas company EBN. Construction started in 2012 and limited commercial operations began in April last year.

Domestic gas production in the Netherlands has been reduced after the government in February capped production for the first half of the year at its Groningen gas field.

Source: Reuters