Germany is currently storing more gas in storage than ever before. They are almost 99 percent full. Only the storage facility in Rehden, Lower Saxony, has so far fallen below the target set by the ordinance for November 1st.
There is more natural gas stored in German gas storage facilities than ever before. This emerges from data published on the Internet by European gas storage operators. According to this, the amount stored on October 24, at 239.64 terawatt hours, exceeded the previous maximum value of November 10, 2019, when 239.62 terawatt hours of energy content were registered. In the meantime, the value has risen to 241.62 terawatt hours (provisional as of October 29).
For comparison: In January and February 2022, according to the Federal Network Agency, a total of almost 227 terawatt hours of natural gas were consumed in Germany. The German storage facilities are 98.52 percent full. The percentage all-time high has not been reached: On October 27, 2019, according to the Association of German Storage Operators, they were 99.66 percent full. According to the storage association GIE, the filling level of all storage facilities in Europe was 94.34 percent on Saturday.
“Since Monday last week, the absolute storage levels in Germany have been at a record level,” said the managing director of the German storage association Ines, Sebastian Bleschke. “Against the background of the gas reserves thus created, it can be stated that very good provisions have been made for the coming winter.” High filling levels are of central importance in order to achieve independence from individual gas suppliers. “We have now come a big step closer to this independence.”
A regulation stipulates that every storage facility in Germany should be at least 95 percent full by November 1st. The Ines Association continues to assume that only the largest German storage facility in Rehden in Lower Saxony will not reach this value by the reporting date. It was last filled to 91.4 percent.
