INES: Germany can start filling its gas storage facilities from mid-March

Germany can start filling its natural gas storage facilities ahead of next winter as soon as next week. This will be easier than last year because storage levels remain high after the heating season, which ends this month. The INES group, which operates the storage facilities, said this today. Germany responded to the halt in Russian gas supplies in 2022 by storing gas and reducing energy consumption.

„No extensive withdrawals from gas storage facilities are expected during the remainder of winter 2023/2024,“ INES said.

Provided temperatures remain high, new injections into storage facilities will be possible as soon as mid-March, it said.

Europe’s largest economy now imports gas from sources other than Russia, mostly Norway. It has also increased purchases of liquefied natural gas (LNG) on global markets. These measures have helped bring down prices, which reached record levels in 2022. Wholesale gas prices in the European Union fell to near three-year lows earlier this month.

Gas withdrawals from storage facilities have fallen amid record February temperatures. According to INES, this has kept storage levels above historical averages, making it possible to fill them to 100 percent ahead of next winter.

On Tuesday, Germany’s storage facilities were 68 percent full, according to Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE), the European association of gas infrastructure operators. The law requires storage levels to be at least 40 percent on 1 February.

Germany’s underground storage facilities hold 255.2 terawatt-hours (TWh) of gas, equivalent to almost a third of the country’s gas consumption last year.