The head of the Federal Network Agency, Klaus Müller, considers the goal of a gas storage tank filling level of 90 or 95 percent by November 1 to be unrealistic.
If the fact that only 40 percent of the delivery capacity flows through the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline, a maximum of 80 to 85 percent can be achieved in the best case, said Müller.
The head of the authority spoke on Monday at a crisis summit of the Baden-Württemberg state government, the source of his statement is information from participants.
The filling level is currently 65.9 percent.
However, Müller pointed out that the filling levels in many neighboring countries were even lower.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen therefore called on all EU countries to save gas on Monday - even those that are not as dependent on Russian gas supplies as Germany.
The goal of the federal government and the network agency is to save 20 percent gas in order to prepare for the winter.
“We are currently at about 14 percent savings.
We can't get there in winter without additional effort," said Müller, who was connected via video.
At the same time, Müller expressed his satisfaction on Twitter that the German gas storage facilities were filling up again at an acceptable rate.
The storage facilities were “finally back on a proper storage path,” wrote Müller on Monday morning.
"Now it's time to increase the 75% rate by September 1st.
The ailing gas importer Uniper – in which the federal government recently took over a 30 percent stake for support – has also ended withdrawal, i.e. the withdrawal of gas.
Baden-Württemberg's Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann (Greens) has invited to the state's crisis meeting to prepare the country in the event that Russia, in response to Western sanctions following the attack on Ukraine, further cuts its gas supplies to Germany.