Berlin. It's getting colder in Germany, the heating season has begun. Attention is once again focused on the filling levels of the gas storage facilities: legal requirements are likely to have been clearly missed. As of November 1st, an average filling level of 70 percent is said to have been reached. However, the storage facilities are only around 61.2 percent full, as shown by the latest data from the European platform AGSI from Friday.
A spokeswoman for the Federal Ministry of Economics said that the gas supply was secured for the winter even at the current storage levels. The Green energy politician Michael Kellner accused Economics Minister Katherina Reiche (CDU) of a lack of precaution. There is no safety buffer.
First of all, nothing. The Ministry of Economics and the Federal Network Agency could theoretically initiate measures. If booked capacities are not used, this could be withdrawn from storage users - in order to then fill the storage facilities. Timm Kehler, board member of the Gas and Water Industry Association, said that the fact that the requirements were missed had no direct consequences. The law does not provide for any sanctions for this. The requirements are a safety net.
“The gas supply in Germany is stable,” said a spokeswoman for the Federal Network Agency. “Security of supply is guaranteed.” Based on current knowledge, the Federal Network Agency continues to assess the risk of a strained gas supply as low.
A spokeswoman for Minister Reiche (CDU) said: “According to current assessments, it can be assumed that Germany will get through the winter well.” It is not just the storage levels that are crucial for security of supply, but also the actual withdrawal, ongoing gas imports and other precautionary measures.
Kehler said: “What is crucial for supply is that the dealers have stored the gas they ordered for the winter for their customers and are continuing to do so.” The storage currently has a capacity of around 150 terawatt hours. “That is noticeably more than was taken from the storage facilities last winter.”
Gases come particularly via pipelines from Norway, via liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals and via European neighbors, said the spokeswoman for the Ministry of Economic Affairs. With the LNG import capacities, Germany can obtain additional gas volumes from the global market at any time, even during the heating season. “Storage levels therefore have a different significance for security of supply today than they did before the LNG infrastructure was built.” A certain storage fill level achieved does not indicate whether the supply is secured.
According to the regulation, the storage facilities must be at least 80 percent full - although a reduced target of 45 percent applies to six storage facilities. This results in an average fill level requirement of 70 percent. The storage facilities are currently filled to varying degrees.
Sebastian Heinermann, managing director of the industry association Energy Storage Initiative (Ines), spoke of a “serious warning signal” that the targets will not be met by November 1st. "Germany is starting the heating season with lower safety reserves. This increases the vulnerability of the gas supply, especially in the event of exceptionally low temperatures or additional disruptions to gas imports."
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. But the Iran conflict is causing high wholesale prices. As a result, storage is only economically attractive to a limited extent, as gas has to be purchased more expensively in the summer than it can be sold for the winter according to current expectations, as the Federal Association of the Energy and Water Industry explained. At the end of September, Reiche instructed the federally owned energy company Sefe to store more natural gas.
The spokeswoman for the Ministry of Economic Affairs said that the federal government had taken further precautionary measures to secure gas supplies in the winter. This included special tenders with which gas volumes were intended to be secured against early withdrawal. "Some of these measures only take effect after November 1st and are therefore not or not yet fully reflected in the current storage levels. However, they have a positive impact on security of supply, especially in late winter when storage levels fall."
“Very low storage levels towards the end of winter are particularly critical from a security of supply perspective,” says Heinermann. "As the filling level falls, not only does the amount of gas stored decrease, but also the technically available withdrawal capacity. The storage facilities can then provide less and less gas per day. This can become a problem, particularly in February and March, when high consumption peaks occur again after a long, cold winter."
The storage filling for coming winters must be secured more bindingly. “It is therefore right and important that the Federal Ministry of Economics is open to the introduction of a supplier obligation.”
The Green energy politician Kellner said: "The gas storage facilities are so empty that Germany has no safety buffer for the winter. Every cold front, every small disruption in the supply chain will therefore immediately lead to higher gas prices. Consumers are paying for this lack of precaution through rising heating costs." In the hours when expensive fossil gas sets prices, the industry will suffer from very high electricity prices.
Kehler said: “Low filling levels at the end of winter mean less buffer during cold periods and can therefore trigger price spikes on the spot markets.” Kellner spoke out in favor of an accelerated expansion of renewable energies in order to become independent of fossil energies.
The requirements for filling levels will not be extended - they will expire on March 31, 2027. A national gas reserve is planned - as a security cushion. The reserve is to be built up gradually over several years towards winter in 2027. “The gas reserve serves as crisis prevention for extreme cases, sabotage and rare major events,” says a bill from the Ministry of Economic Affairs. “Additional physical quantities of gas” should be kept in reserve. The gas reserve is said to have a volume of 24 billion kilowatt hours - that would correspond to around ten percent of the storage capacity. The reserve is to be financed through a levy.
