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Gas storage in Rehden

Photo: Hauke-Christian Dittrich / dpa

Natural gas storage facilities in Germany have reached the targeted level mark of 95 percent ahead of schedule. On Tuesday morning, they were 95.05 percent full, according to preliminary data from the European gas storage association GIE. A regulation introduced last year during the gas crisis stipulates that storage facilities should be 1 percent full by November 95.

This means that the gas storage facilities have been filled faster this year than a year ago. On the morning of September 26, 2022, the fill level was 91.4 percent. Last year, the 95 percent mark was only reached on October 13.

Rehden already over 97 percent

The storage facilities compensate for fluctuations in gas consumption and thus form a buffer system for the market. The storage facilities were last 100 percent full on the morning of November 14, 2022. In winter, the levels usually decrease, but increase again after the end of the heating season. According to earlier information from the Federal Government, the amount of natural gas stored in the storage facilities at 100 percent filling level corresponds roughly to the consumption of two to three average cold winter months.

Germany's largest storage facility in Rehden, Lower Saxony, which was controlled by the Russian state-owned company Gazprom until the beginning of April 2022, recorded a filling level of 97.42 percent on Tuesday morning. The 95 percent mark was also exceeded across the EU. According to the GIE, the fill level was 95.08 percent on Tuesday morning.

"The starting position for the winter of 2023/24 is significantly better than a year ago, but residual risks remain," the Federal Network Agency wrote in its gas situation report last week. Economical gas consumption remains important.

According to the Federal Network Agency, Germany received natural gas from Norway, Belgium and the Netherlands last Monday. In addition, there were deliveries by ship via the new LNG terminals on the German coasts. Smaller quantities came from Austria and Switzerland. The last time natural gas from Russia came to Germany via the Nord Stream 1 Baltic Sea pipeline was on August 30, 2022.

beb/dpa