In the German gas storage facilities, the winter weather continues to cause fill levels to fall. According to the European gas storage association GIE, they were 90.2 percent full yesterday. That was one percentage point less than the day before. The last time gas was stored in Germany was on November 27th. Since then, the filling quantity has decreased - as is usual in winter.

The largest German storage facility in Rehden, Lower Saxony, was almost 91.2 percent full, according to data published on the Internet today.

Gas storage as a buffer system

The storage facilities compensate for fluctuations in gas consumption and thus form a buffer system for the market. The filling levels usually decrease after the start of the heating period in autumn. On the morning of November 14, a fill level of 100 percent was recorded. On February 1, according to the Energy Industry Act, the storage tanks should still be 40 percent full.

It should be noted that gas continues to flow to Germany through pipeline imports, most recently exclusively from Norway, the Netherlands and Belgium. From December 22nd, liquefied natural gas (LNG) landed directly in Germany should also come onto the market for the first time.

Savings target of 20 percent

The cold had recently caused increasing gas consumption. The savings target of 20 percent required by the Federal Network Agency compared to the average consumption over the past four years was not achieved. In the past week (week 49), consumption by households and industry was only 5.2 percent below the weekly average of the four previous years. Adjusted for temperature, consumption in the 48th and 49th calendar week was 12 percent below the reference value for the last four years.