The filling level of the German natural gas storage facilities is approaching the 85 percent mark despite the sharply reduced delivery volumes from Russia.
According to data published on the Internet by European gas storage operators on Tuesday, the level on Sunday morning was 80.14 percent.
The fill level is always reported with a delay.
A new regulation stipulates that German storage facilities must be at least 85 percent full by October 1st.
On November 1st it should be at least 95 percent.
The 75 percent required by September 1 had been reached more than two weeks earlier.
The managing director of the so-called market area manager Trading Hub Europe (THE), Torsten Frank, fears that Germany will not be able to fill all of its gas storage facilities as required by law.
"We will be able to fill many storage facilities up to 95 percent by November, but not all," he told the "Rheinische Post" (Tuesday).
However, he does not expect a nationwide gas shortage.
"But there may be regional shortages, which unfortunately cannot be ruled out." But he is confident about private households: "We are making good progress with storage and savings.
I am very confident that private households will not have to freeze this winter.”
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.
The state-owned company Gazprom announced that no gas would flow to Germany from August 31 to September 2 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.