Gas storage tanks are full: but where exactly is the gas going?

Created: 04/10/2022 05:17

By: Bettina Menzel

The gas storage tanks are full, but where exactly is it going?

© IMAGO/Frank Hoermann / SVEN SIMON

The gas price brake is intended to support private households and companies.

The storage facilities are full, but does the gas really reach consumers?

Berlin - The gas surcharge will be dropped, but there will be a gas price brake: The federal government wants to protect citizens and companies from unbearable costs in the energy crisis with a "defense shield" of up to 200 billion euros.

But where exactly the gas is going, apparently not even the federal government can say.

Opposition politicians are therefore calling for more clarity about the distribution of gas in the event of a shortage. 

Gas crisis: Federal government has no “knowledge of where the individual stored gas is going”

Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) spoke of a "double boom" in a situation in which Russia used "its energy supplies as a weapon" in the Ukraine war.

According to a joint key issues paper by the members of the government, gas prices should be brought to a level, at least for part of consumption, "which protects private households and companies from being overwhelmed".

But at the same time, consumers should be encouraged to save.

"I don't want to hide the fact that we are still in a critical situation and that consumption has to go down," said Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens).

Therefore, “peak consumption should not be subsidised”.

The head of the Federal Network Agency, Klaus Müller, assumes that private households have to save a fifth of their energy so that Germany can get through the winter well: "If we don't manage to achieve at least 20 percent savings in private households, then we will cannot get by in an average winter without industry cuts.”

Details of the gas price brake are now to be worked out by a commission set up in mid-September, which consists of 21 experts from business, science and trade unions as well as representatives of the federal government.

"The Federal Government does not have any knowledge of where the individual stored gas is flowing to," wrote the Ministry of Economics in response to a request from the Union parliamentary group Vice-President Jens Spahn (CDU), as reported by the

.

Storage tanks are full - but according to what rules is the gas distributed?

Robert Habeck, Federal Minister of Economics and Climate Protection, and Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz at a press conference on Thursday (September 29, 2022).

© IMAGO/ Metodi Popov

Despite supply stops of Russian gas and leaks at Nord Stream 1, the gas storage facilities in Germany are well stocked.

Opposition politicians are now demanding clarity from the federal government about the distribution of gas in the event of a shortage.

The left-wing parliamentary manager Jan Korte told the Funke media group with regard to the government: “The risk of a gas shortage cannot be ruled out, despite gas storage tanks being well filled, but according to which criteria the gas should be distributed in a crisis, she does not say. Instead, decisions with far-reaching consequences for consumers would be left to the Federal Network Agency as the authority.

Level of gas storage in Germany

- On October 1, the fill level was 91 percent, above the target of 90 percent

Other important target values:

- The gas storage tanks should be 95 percent full by November 1, 2022

- The level should still be 40 percent by February 1, 2023

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“The very expensive gas bought in our storage facilities has to reach German consumers in winter.

For this purpose, the traffic light must finally present a withdrawal plan," said Union parliamentary group Vice Spahn of the

.

"Otherwise, full storage facilities give the false sense of security." The report also points out that the gas stored in Germany is not reserved exclusively for German consumers and companies, but can also be awarded to companies operating throughout Europe that are registered in the German gas market .

The highest bid is decisive.

Ministry of Economics reacts: "This corresponds to the requirements of the European internal energy market"

The Ministry of Economics confirmed this in the matter, but sees no reason for criticism.

“This corresponds to the requirements of the European internal energy market.

Anyone who demands something else here is ignoring the European internal market," said a spokeswoman on request.

In principle, the gas in the storage facilities belongs to the relevant dealers.

"If the filling level specifications are reached, they can also sell gas and the sale usually follows the highest price offer and the most liquid market." In the European internal energy market, "mutual solidarity" applies, the spokeswoman continued.

Germany uses LNG landing points in Rotterdam in the Netherlands and Dunkirk in France - and France has delivered gas to Germany in the past few weeks.

Criticism of this came from the European Commission: There are "Member States that do not have the same budgetary leeway as Germany" and therefore may not be able to support their consumers and economy equally, said the EU Commissioners for Economic Affairs and the Internal Market on Monday, Paolo Gentiloni and Thierry Breton.

"More than ever we must avoid distorting competition in the internal market," warned the two commissioners.

"We must not start a subsidy race and thus question the principles of solidarity and unity that underpin the success of our European project."