At the end of August, the flow of gas through Nord Stream 1 is to be cut off completely for three days. Economics Minister Habeck has good news, however: German gas storage facilities are filling up much faster than expected, and dependence on Russia is decreasing.
The German gas storage facilities are filling up at record speed. According to “Spiegel”, Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck expects that the target for October will be reached shortly. “The October storage target of 85 percent should already be reached by the beginning of September,” says an internal memo from the Ministry of Economic Affairs. As of August 26, the level in German gas storage facilities was 82.2 percent. An acute gas shortage this winter is therefore less likely.
“The companies will then be able to withdraw the gas in the storage facilities as planned over the winter in order to also supply industry and households,” said the Green politician, according to the magazine. The statutory withdrawal path stipulates that storage levels may fall back to 40 percent by February 2023.
According to the ministry paper, the purchase of Russian gas has also fallen significantly. “In August, only nine and a half percent of gas consumption came through the Russian pipelines,” the officials write, referring to statistics from the Federal Association of German Energy and Water Industries (BDEW). This is also due to the low consumption in summer. However, the ministry expects hardly any fluctuations in gas supplies from Russia in the coming weeks when the heating season starts again. “Most of Russia’s pipeline import volumes were compensated through other means,” the report continues, citing the note. Natural gas purchases from Norway and the Netherlands as well as LNG imports have increased significantly in recent months. Belgium has also increased gas feed-in since April.
According to the ministry note, France is to be added as a further source of supply. So far, Paris has received Russian gas via Germany, but the gas flow is expected to reverse from autumn, and organizational and technical problems have now been resolved. In this way, liquid gas terminals in France could also be used to buy gas to Germany. The construction of our own liquid gas terminals is progressing “according to plan”.
The high filling levels relieve Habeck. The minister was recently criticized for technical deficiencies in his gas levy. On August 19, Russia also announced that it would completely interrupt the flow of gas through Nord Stream 1 from August 31 to September 2 due to alleged maintenance work.
