The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Gas level alarmingly low: is Germany heading for a supply bottleneck?

2022-04-11T03:12:07.107Z


Gas level alarmingly low: is Germany heading for a supply bottleneck? Created: 04/11/2022 04:52 By: Matthew Schneider Traders store natural gas in huge storage facilities like the one here in Rehden (Lower Saxony). The inventories of the Gazprom subsidiaries are almost exhausted, the warming buffer of the republic is thin © Mohssen Assanimoghaddam/dpa The EU Parliament is calling for an import


Gas level alarmingly low: is Germany heading for a supply bottleneck?

Created: 04/11/2022 04:52

By: Matthew Schneider

Traders store natural gas in huge storage facilities like the one here in Rehden (Lower Saxony).

The inventories of the Gazprom subsidiaries are almost exhausted, the warming buffer of the republic is thin © Mohssen Assanimoghaddam/dpa

The EU Parliament is calling for an import stop for Russian gas - but many storage facilities are empty.

An unprecedented supply shortage could come to Germany.

Munich – The cat-and-mouse game about Russian natural gas is entering the next round.

After the Federal Network Agency was appointed as a trustee for the subsidiary of the Russian energy giant* Gazprom Germania, it turned out that there wasn't much left to manage.

Gas storage partly completely empty: “Gazprom probably expected it”

“Two gas storage facilities that are important for Bavaria are located in Haidach, Austria, and belong to the Gazprom subsidiaries Astora and GSA.

The former is only twelve percent full, the latter completely empty,” explains Detlef Fischer, head of the Association of Bavarian Energy and Water Utilities.

According to an inventory, this situation applies to most of the Gazprom storage facilities in Germany, which account for around 20 percent of the storage capacity of the republic: "Gazprom probably expected that its German subsidiaries would be expropriated* and therefore sold the remaining stocks". says Fisher.

Bavaria particularly affected: Stocks from the rest of Germany can help out

The Free State was particularly affected*: "The storage facilities relevant to Bavaria are 14 percent full, around 10 percentage points less than the national average," says Fischer.

Should there be an import ban for Russian gas, further reserves could be drawn on: "If the Bavarian storage facilities are empty, we can, if the market allows, fall back on the stocks from the rest of Germany and Europe and have to deal with the remaining deliveries then mainly from Norway via pipelines.”

Expert demands: If Russia stops gas deliveries, Germany should "save gas for the winter"

In principle, however, stockpiling is advisable in the event of a gas stop: “If Russian gas should no longer flow to Germany in the near future, we should not empty the storage tanks any further, but save the gas for the winter.

In the event of undesirable developments, the legislature would probably have to intervene again, since both the gas and the storage facilities belong to private companies.” Because on the market that is still free, the remaining supplies would simply be sold to the highest bidder, such as industry.

In the event of a gas shortage, "private households are particularly protected"

If the shortage actually occurs, crisis mechanisms kick in: “If gas runs short throughout Germany, the Federal Network Agency intervenes via the federal load distributor and decides who gets how much gas.

Private households are particularly protected.” However, the existing contract network between dealers, suppliers and consumers would have to be redesigned: “It is important that in this emergency situation the energy suppliers are released from liability because they cannot meet their delivery obligations due to the lack of gas .”


Energy expert: "In the worst case, the state would have to take over the market completely"

That would turn the liberal gas market completely upside down: "In the worst case, the state would have to take over the market completely - that has never happened before." The effect of the first countermeasures by the traffic light government remains to be seen: "It will also be exciting how the new Gas Storage Act will be implemented.

If the storage facilities are not filled via market mechanisms, the transmission system operators – in Bavaria, for example, the Bayernets – have to procure the necessary gas,” says Detlef Fischer.

The costs would then be passed on to consumers via network charges and a new surcharge.

Alternative liquid gas: "The switch will take time and, above all, it will be expensive"

However, Fischer does not want to hope for the often invoked liquid gas (LNG)*: “LNG is basically chemically the same natural gas that is produced in Russia.

The difference is that it has cooled down considerably and is therefore delivered to the European coasts in a liquefied form by ship.” There it is regasified and transported via the European network to Bavaria.

“However, it is impossible that LNG from the USA, Qatar or North Africa could help us substantially over the next winter.

Because most capacities are tied up in purchase agreements for many years – like we still have with Russia,” warns Fischer.

"The changeover will take time and, above all, it will be expensive, because we compete in terms of price with large buyers in Asia." *

Merkur.de

is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2022-04-11

You may like

News/Politics 2024-02-09T19:53:25.777Z

Trends 24h

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.