The winter can come
Germany’s gas storage facilities are well filled
November 2, 2023, 3:52 a.m
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With a view to winter, the Federal Network Agency has given the all-clear: German gas storage facilities are over 99 percent full and the Federal Republic is therefore well prepared for the winter. Although it is still too early to give a complete all-clear, there is no reason to worry so far.
The head of the Federal Network Agency, Klaus Müller, sees Germany as significantly better prepared for the winter than last year given its gas supply. “If we have a normal winter, there shouldn’t be any major problems,” Müller told the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”.
As the newspaper further reports, in a report the authority only came to the conclusion in two very extreme simulations out of a total of six that from the second week of February onwards there might not be enough gas available to fire all heating systems and industrial plants in Germany. Accordingly, Germany is in a significantly better situation this year than in 2022 because the gas storage facilities are over 99 percent full and both gas imports and customer savings are stable.
In addition, politicians have significantly increased import capacities for liquid gas. This, together with additional deliveries from Norway, made it possible to compensate for the lack of gas deliveries from Russia. However, network agency boss Müller said, according to the “SZ”, that it was still too early to give a “complete all-clear”. A longer period of extreme cold, reduced deliveries from abroad or a Russian ban on exports of natural gas to southeastern Europe could worsen the supply situation. However, the Federal Network Agency considers an accumulation of such problems to be extremely unlikely.