A federal regulation stipulates that the facilities must be at least 95 percent filled by November 1. This value is now globally reached. However, the regulation prescribes that every storage facility must meet this requirement. This is not the case: some plants are significantly higher, others significantly lower.
In terms of quantity, the stored gas is sufficient for about two cold winter months, said the chairman of the Federal Network Service, Klaus Müller. “The well-filled reservoirs will help us in the winter.”
At the same time, the head of the authorities emphasized that the storage tanks were far from sufficient for the entire heating period and that additional efforts were needed. “In order to avoid a gas crisis in the winter, the projects that have been started to increase gas imports must also be carried out.” He was referring to the new liquefied gas terminals on the German coast, which are scheduled to open around the turn of the year.
In addition, the gas supply in neighboring countries must also remain stable and domestic gas consumption must fall by at least 20 percent, according to Müller. “It depends on each individual.”
Referring to the 29 percent drop in gas consumption by households and small businesses over the past week, he added that this was largely due to the warm weather and such savings should also be realized in a cold winter. Müller pointed out that the storage level should be at least 40 percent by February 1.
(SDA)