How Germany will deal with gas supplies this winter?

Germany enters the new year 2024 with a good percentage of its gas tanks being filled, as data published by the European Gas Storage Association (GIE) online, Friday, showed that this percentage reached 90.8%.

It’s noteworthy that when the tanks reach the full level, the amount of gas stored is equivalent, on average, to the consumption of between two and three months of the cold winter months.

These tanks work to compensate for fluctuations in gas consumption and create a reserve system for the market.

It’s usual for the filling rate to decrease in the winter and to increase again after the end of the heating season. However, the past weeks have witnessed, unusually, days in which the amount of gas that is stored exceeds the amount, which is withdrawn, which leads to an increase in the percentage of fullness.

The filling rate in the largest German gas tank in the city of Reden in Lower Saxony reached 81.2%, while the filling rate at the European Union level reached a high level of 87%.

For its part, the Association of Gas Tank Operators in Germany (ENS) said that the current filling rate is significantly higher than average, and the CEO of the Energy Tanks Initiative (ENS), Sebastian Bleschke, told the German News Agency that, the moderate temperatures in November and December led to relatively low consumption, thus avoiding a stronger emptying of gas tanks.

Germany takes into account that the process of withdrawing gas from the reservoirs is accompanied by the continued flow of gas to them, especially through pipeline imports.

According to the Federal Network Agency in Germany, the largest quantities of gas received on Wednesday were coming from Norway, the Netherlands and Belgium.

Gas also flows into the German gas network through new liquefied gas stations, and in addition, Germany also obtains natural gas from Switzerland and Denmark.