"Must be a lesson for us": because for government access to gas storage

Created: 09/16/2022, 08:36

By: Yannick Hanke

Lower Saxony's Prime Minister Stephan Weil (SPD) is in favor of state access to all German gas storage facilities.

© Moritz Frankenberg/dpa

Stephan Weil (SPD) speaks plain language.

The Prime Minister of Lower Saxony is in favor of state access to gas storage.

You have to learn from mistakes.

Hanover – Before the Lower Saxony elections in 2022, the incumbent Prime Minister Stephan Weil (SPD) is self-critical.

“It must be a lesson for us that we must have access to our gas supplies in an emergency.

We must not make ourselves dependent on foreign owners for the infrastructure," he told dpa.

For Weil it is clear that the state must have access to all German gas storage facilities.

This is reported by kreiszeitung.de.

Before the Lower Saxony elections in 2022: Prime Minister Weil (SPD) self-critical because of the gas storage facility in Rehden under Gazprom control

Background: Germany's largest gas storage facility is located in Rehden in Lower Saxony, which was almost completely empty under the control of a subsidiary of the Russian state-owned company Gazprom.

The gas storage facility in Lower Saxony was transferred to Gazprom in 2015 – Stephan Weil was already in office at that time.

When asked about this, the social democrat explained that the state was not responsible for the gas storage facilities.

"At the time, the Federal Ministry of Economics had no objections to the transfer of the storage facility in Rehden to Gazprom," said Stephan Weil.

Incidentally, at the time a party member from Weil's SPD state association was Federal Minister of Economics, namely Sigmar Gabriel.

"In the meantime, unfortunately, we are smarter": Stephan Weil had not expected "destruction of German-Russian cooperation in the field of energy".

The gas storage facility in Rehden has been refilled since the Federal Network Agency took over as trustee.

Most recently, the fill level was a good 75 percent.

At least 85 percent should be achieved by October 1, at least 95 percent by November 1, and at least 40 percent by February 1, 2024.

According to the Federal Network Agency, gas storage facilities nationwide are more than 88 percent full.

So the view is forward.

But the shadows of the past cannot be dismissed out of hand.

“Like large parts of German politics and the German public, I would not have believed that the destruction of German-Russian cooperation in the field of energy was possible at the time.

Unfortunately, we're smarter now," said Stephan Weil when asked whether the risk of dependency on Russia due to the deal hadn't been apparent to him at the time.

(with dpa material)