The operator group INES reported that at the beginning of September, gas reserves amounted to only 53 percent of storage capacity, compared to 71 percent at the same time last year. According to the “Aggregated Gas Storage Inventory” platform, the European Union average is 67 percent.
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“Since INES started collecting data 15 years ago, such a low reserve level has never been recorded at this time of year,” the group said, warning that “the time to sufficiently replenish reserves is running out.”
Gas storage operators are delaying replenishment due to the rise in gas prices caused by the war in the Middle East and related energy supply disruptions through the Strait of Hormuz. It is reported that Germany is negotiating supply security with energy groups Uniper and SEFE. The latter is a former Russian Gazprom subsidiary that the government nationalized in 2022 after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Foreign Minister Johannes Wadephul last week visited Algeria with a business delegation to reach agreements that would help diversify Germany’s gas supply in the long term.
Berlin denies that a supply shock could occur this winter due to the current situation.
“Based on what we know now, a gas shortage is not expected next winter,” a spokesperson for the Ministry of Economics said last week, although acknowledging that the situation is “tenser” than before last winter.
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