Germany’s gas storage facilities are still well stocked. The total filling level was around 72.2 percent on Wednesday morning, 0.4 percentage points lower than a day earlier, according to preliminary data from the European gas storage association GIE on Thursday. In the years 2021 and 2022, the reservoirs were emptied significantly more in mid-February than at present.
The largest German storage facility in Rehden, Lower Saxony, was 87.8 percent full. Throughout the EU, the fill level was around 65.2 percent. That was 0.5 percentage points less than the day before. The Federal Network Agency continues to assess the gas supply in Germany as stable.
The filling levels in this country 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.
The storage facilities compensate for fluctuations in gas consumption and thus form a buffer system for the market. The filling levels usually decrease after the start of the heating period in autumn. On the morning of November 14, a fill level of 100 percent was recorded. On February 1, the storage tanks were 78.6 percent, almost twice as full as required by the Energy Industry Act on this date.
It should be noted that gas continues to flow to Germany through pipeline imports, namely from Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium and France. Germany now also receives natural gas via new LNG terminals on the German coast.
The relatively high filling level in the storage facilities is also due to the fact that companies, authorities and consumers have used less gas than before. The total weekly consumption in the past week (calendar week 6) was 17 percent lower than the average consumption for the same week in the years 2018 to 2021. Compared to the fifth calendar week of 2023, however, gas consumption has recently increased somewhat.
