Russia has reduced gas supplies to Germany, and now the economy is worried about energy supplies.
(Photo: dpa)
Berlin The filling level of the German natural gas storage facilities is still approaching the 85 percent mark, despite significantly reduced delivery volumes from Russia. The fill level was 81.78 percent last Thursday morning, according to data published online by European gas storage operators on Sunday. A further increase to 82.2 percent was expected for Friday.
“The storage tanks are filling up faster than specified,” said Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck to the “Spiegel”. The Green politician assumes that the targets he has set will be reached much earlier.
A spokeswoman confirmed that the October storage target of 85 percent should already be achieved by the beginning of September. “Spiegel” had previously quoted an internal memo from the ministry.
The President of the Federal Network Agency, Klaus Müller, recently said that the gas storage facilities were being filled at an “admirable speed”. According to Habeck, 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.
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A regulation stipulates that the German storage tanks must be at least 85 percent full by October 1st. On November 1st it should be at least 95 percent. The storage facilities compensate for fluctuations in gas consumption and thus form a kind of buffer system for the gas market. The fill level is always reported with a delay.
Hope for deliveries from France
Russia recently announced that it would interrupt gas supplies via the Nord Stream 1 Baltic Sea pipeline for three days at the end of August. From August 31 to September 2, no gas will flow to Germany due to maintenance work.
After that, 33 million cubic meters of natural gas should be delivered daily. This corresponds to the 20 percent of the daily maximum output to which Russia reduced deliveries a few weeks ago.
According to the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the purchase of Russian gas has fallen significantly. In August, only nine and a half percent of gas consumption arrived via the Russian pipelines, the spokeswoman confirmed. This is also due to the low consumption in summer. “The majority of the Russian pipeline import volumes were compensated for in other ways, according to “Spiegel” in the note.
France should now be the new source of supply. So far, France has also obtained Russian gas via Germany. In addition, the country imports large amounts of electricity from Germany because of numerous nuclear power plants that have been shut down. This comes mainly from gas-fired power plants that run especially for French exports.
But from autumn, the ministry should at least reverse the flow of gas. Liquid gas terminals in France could also be used for the German purchase of gas and significantly ease the supply situation.
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