Storage 83.8 percent full
Cold weather nibbles at the gas reserves
01/26/2023, 7:25 p.m
The recently lower temperatures are driving up gas consumption in Germany. It is still below the level of the previous year. But the envisaged savings target of 20 percent is a long way off. However, the reservoirs are still well filled.
Businesses and consumers also used less gas in the third week of the year. However, the winter weather has made saving more difficult. Overall, consumption in the third calendar week was 9.4 percent below the average consumption for the years 2018 to 2021. In the week before, the decline was still 34 percent, mainly due to significantly higher temperatures. Taken together, the temperature-adjusted consumption in weeks two and three was around 19.5 percent below the reference value for the years 2018 to 2021, as the Federal Network Agency announced in its daily gas management report.
“In the third calendar week we save (too) little gas due to the temperature,” tweeted the President of the Authority, Klaus Müller. “Despite well-stocked gas storage facilities and important new LNG terminals, we need 20 percent savings for the winter of 23/24.”
Meanwhile, the filling levels in the gas storage tanks are falling due to the winter temperatures again. For the second day in a row, they fell by more than one percentage point, according to data from the European gas storage association GIE. The fill level was 83.8 percent yesterday morning. For comparison: on January 24, a year ago, the fill level was 37.8 percent. The largest German storage facility in Rehden, Lower Saxony, recently recorded a filling level of 90.3 percent. This value has remained almost unchanged since January 13th. Across the EU, the fill level was 76.4 percent, 0.7 points lower than the day before.
The filling levels in Germany have been falling overall since January 9th. Before that, data had been stored for more than two weeks – which is not typical for the time of year. According to ntv meteorologist Björn Alexander, slightly rising temperatures can be expected from next week. The EU Commission wants the member states to aim for a fill level of 55 percent across the EU on February 1, provided the winter months are not colder than average.
It should be noted that gas continues to flow permanently through pipeline imports to Germany, according to the Federal Network Agency on Tuesday from Norway, the Netherlands and Belgium. Germany now also receives natural gas via LNG terminals on German coasts.