Gas storage companies confident that Germany can enter next winter with full supplies

Germany can probably fill its gas storages to the brim before next winter, operators have said. “It is possible to completely refill the gas storage facilities again before the coming winter of 2024/2025,” storage system association INES said in a press release. The lobby group said that despite January’s cold spell, storages had been 75 percent full at the start of February, far above the  statutory 40 percent target. “Even in extremely cold temperatures, extensive emptying of gas storage facilities is no longer expected” during the current winter, the group added. According to INES, more than half of the gas Germany used during January’s cold spell came out of storage facilities.  

Following the halt of deliveries from Russia in 2022 in the aftermath of the country’s invasion of Ukraine, Germany scrambled to find alternative sources to fill its storages to avoid a gas shortage in winter, when demand for heating is highest. The country set strict targets for storage filling levels at certain dates throughout a year.