Energy supply: Less gas in German storage facilities

Significantly less natural gas is stored in German gas storage facilities than a year ago. On Friday morning, according to data from the European Gas Storage Association (GIE), the storage facilities were 49 percent full. A year ago, the fill level was almost 80 percent. Germany's largest storage facility, in Rehden, Lower Saxony, is currently only 2.21 percent full. While storage facility operators are issuing warnings, the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) nevertheless believes that security of supply is guaranteed. "We are monitoring the fill levels very closely," said agency President Klaus Müller in response to an inquiry from the dpa news agency. With the liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals on the North and Baltic Sea coasts, there are different options than three years ago, when Russian gas deliveries were stopped. Therefore, a secure gas supply can be guaranteed even with somewhat lower quantities in the storage facilities.

The Gas Storage Level Ordinance stipulates that most storage facilities must be 80 percent full by November 1. For certain storage facilities with lower feed-in and feed-out capacities, a target of 45 percent applies. By February 1, most storage facilities must be 30 percent full. The state storage targets were introduced during the 2022 energy crisis to secure gas supplies due to the Russian attack on Ukraine, dependence on Russian gas, and empty storage facilities.

The Association of German Gas Storage Operators (INES) attributes the lower filling levels to "a certain reluctance on the market." "Although we need full gas storage facilities for a secure supply in the winter, booking and filling purely on a market basis is apparently not always possible at current prices," said Managing Director Sebastian Heinermann. Completely filling the gas storage facilities by November 1 is already technically impossible.