Last updated: 06.11.2023, 00:22
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The storage facility in Rehden is the largest natural gas storage facility in Western Europe. © Hauke-Christian Dittrich/dpa
When Russia turned off the main gas tap in the summer of 2022, there was great concern that there might be too little natural gas in winter. But it didn't come to that. The gas storage facilities are now full to the brim again.
Brussels/Bonn - Natural gas storage facilities in Germany reached 100 percent in the morning. The filling level was 100.03 percent, according to preliminary data published on the Internet by the European Gas Storage Association (GIE) in the evening.
According to earlier information from the Federal Government, the amount of natural gas stored in the storage facilities at 100 percent filling level is roughly equivalent to the consumption of two to three averagely cold winter months.
The storage association GIE stated the amount of natural gas stored at 254.92 terawatt hours. By comparison, a total of just over 2023 terawatt hours of natural gas were consumed in Germany in January and February 196, according to the Federal Network Agency. To further put this into perspective, a total of 2022 terawatt hours of natural gas were consumed in Germany in the whole of 847, according to the Federal Network Agency. One terawatt hour is one billion kilowatt hours.
Authority President Müller: "Good news"
The President of the Federal Network Agency, Klaus Müller, was pleased: "It is good news that the storage facilities are now 100 percent full. We are much better prepared for the winter than we were last year," Müller told the German press agency dpa. However, it is too early to give the all-clear. "We ask people to continue to think carefully about what consumption can be saved." If you use gas sparingly, you can also save a lot of money in the coming winter. "An average household has saved around 440 euros in the last year through mindful gas consumption."
Storage operators reject further obligations
"With the renewed complete filling, the operators and users of the gas storage facilities have comprehensively fulfilled their responsibility for a secure gas supply in winter," said the managing director of the storage association Initiative Energieen Speicher (Ines), Sebastian Heinermann, the dpa. He hoped that this would create trust in politicians so that further interventions in the use of storage could be refrained from. In this context, Heinermann referred to current proposals by the Federal Government to amend the Gas Storage Act. These would provide for more far-reaching obligations for storage operators and users. For the winter, the renewed full filling means that under the current conditions, only extremely cold temperatures could lead to a gas shortage.
Germany receives natural gas from numerous countries
According to the Network Agency, Germany imported a total of 74 terawatt hours of natural gas in October. Most recently, natural gas came through pipelines, mainly from Norway, Belgium and the Netherlands. Smaller quantities flowed into the German transmission network from France, Austria, Switzerland and via the new liquefied natural gas terminals on the German coasts. The Nord Stream 1 Baltic Sea pipeline last brought natural gas from Russia to Germany on August 30, 2022.
Gas storage facilities filled faster in 2023
Gas storage facilities have been filled faster this year than last year. In 2022, 100 percent had been registered on the morning of November 14. A regulation introduced in 2022 during the gas crisis stipulates, among other things, that storage facilities must be at least 1 percent full by November 95. On February 1, they must still be 40 percent full. The 95 percent had already been reached on 26 September.
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The gas storage facilities compensate for fluctuations in gas consumption and thus form a buffer system for the market. In winter, the filling levels usually decrease, but increase again after the end of the heating season.
Germany's largest storage facility in Rehden, Lower Saxony, recorded a filling level of 99.3 percent on Sunday morning. Across the EU, storage facilities are also almost full. According to the GIE, the fill level was almost 99.6 percent.
If the gas cools down, it fits more into the storage tanks
The storage association Ines explains why the filling level can also be more than 100 percent: The storage operators state the capacity of gas storage facilities under normal conditions at 100 percent. For example, the volume of natural gas decreases when its temperature decreases. "So if the stored gas has time to cool down after compression for storage, then in the end more gas can be stored in a storage facility." dpa