Germany relies on its large gas storage facilities to get through the winter. The Federal Network Agency is now recording a downward trend for the first time in a long time.
On average, slightly more gas is currently being withdrawn from German gas storage facilities than is being stored. “For the first time we are seeing a slight withdrawal” from the German gas storage facilities, wrote the President of the Federal Network Agency, Klaus Müller, on Twitter on Saturday. The filling level of all German gas storage facilities together fell by 0.03 percent to 99.26 percent on Thursday. The filling levels are always communicated with a delay.
“We have stored a lot of gas, but winter can last a long time,” Müller wrote. In order to avoid a gas shortage, Germany must save gas, build liquid gas terminals and secure the infrastructure.
In another tweet, Müller noted that the minus 0.03 percent was a net value. Individual gas storage tanks continued to store gas, while others released gas, he explained.
Recently, the fill levels in the gas storage tanks had continued to rise, so more gas was being stored than was being used. This was partly due to the relatively high temperatures in autumn. However, the Federal Network Agency had already announced on Friday that the withdrawal phase would start soon.
The storage facilities compensate for fluctuations in gas consumption and thus form a buffer system for the market. They are usually well filled when the heating season begins in autumn. The filling levels decrease until spring. According to the Energy Industry Act, they should still be 40 percent full on February 1st.
On the other hand, fewer and fewer people in Germany expect a gas shortage in winter. This was the result of a survey by the Institute for Demoscopy in Allensbach on behalf of the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung” (“FAS”). According to this, in August 2022, 52 percent of those surveyed still assumed that there would not be enough gas available in Germany in the coming winter and that gas consumption would have to be restricted. By October, that percentage had dropped to 36 percent.
In a guest article in the “Wirtschaftswoche” on Saturday, Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner promised the citizens of Germany that energy prices would remain high. “It is foreseeable that energy prices will no longer fall to the pre-crisis level in the medium term,” wrote the FDP politician. (dpa)