Federal Minister of Economics Katherina Reiche (CDU) has commissioned the state energy company Sefe to push ahead with storing natural gas for the winter. The company confirmed that it had received an order from the ministry to procure and store eight terawatt hours (TWh) of gas by December 15th.
According to the Industry Association Energy Storage Initiative, storage in Germany has a total volume of around 247 terawatt hours.
Reiche made the decision in consultation with Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU), said a spokeswoman for the ministry. She cited the ongoing geopolitical risks as the central reason. "From the perspective of crisis prevention, this step is an important additional contribution to increasing the resilience of the German gas supply." The Handelsblatt first reported.
Filling levels are particularly low this year
The filling level of the gas storage facilities in Germany is currently at a comparatively low level at just under 58 percent. At this point last year, the gas storage facilities were already almost 77 percent full. In previous years, the filling levels at the end of September even reached values of 90 percent or higher.
Wholesalers normally buy natural gas cheaply in the summer. They store it and resell it in the winter for a profit to also cover the costs of storage. The reason for the currently low filling levels is that storage is currently only worthwhile for retailers to a limited extent due to price developments as a result of the Iran war. Critics accuse Reiche of having hesitated for too long and done too little.
Sefe is not intended to affect other market participants
Instead, the Ministry of Economic Affairs emphasized that the minister had always made it clear that she was closely following developments on the gas market and had prepared instruments for different scenarios that could be used if necessary. “This need has now arisen,” said the spokeswoman.
Sefe will decide for itself which quantities will be stored at what point in time and will procure the quantities through additional deliveries, it said. This is intended to ensure that the quotas of other market participants are not affected.
Sefe was formerly called Gazprom Germania and was a subsidiary of the Russian state-owned company Gazprom. As a result of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine and the energy crisis, the company was nationalized. The EU Commission has determined that the federal government must largely privatize Sefe again by the end of 2028.
Energy companies should store more overall
The instruction to Sefe should also be a clear signal to other companies, according to the ministry. “It must be clear that the expectation of all other market players to fulfill their obligation to store gas for the winter remains without any ifs and buts,” said the spokeswoman.
The federal government will set up a strategic gas reserve for the future. This is scheduled to begin in 2027 after the Bundestag has passed a corresponding change in the law.
Already in mid-September, Reiche had offered Sefe a financial incentive to purchase gas to fill the storage facilities. However, this was not a formal order. Now she goes one step further.
The gas storage association Initiative Energie Store recently warned of bottlenecks in the event of a very cold winter. The storage facilities were only around 53 percent full at the beginning of September. This is the lowest level at this point since records began 15 years ago. Extremely cold temperatures could lead to a gas shortage in January.
