German govt says gas supply secure despite low storage levels and cold temperatures

Gas storage levels have dropped to just above 30 percent in Germany due to cold temperatures throughout January, but economy minister Katherina Reiche said the low filling level is no cause for concern, reported newspaper Die Zeit. Besides having a secure pipeline supply from Norway, which in 2025 covered nearly half of Germany's gas demand, the country also has the possibility of importing liquefied natural gas (LNG), Reiche said. A spokesperson for the economy ministry confirmed that gas supply is secure and that there is enough LNG available on the global market to get through winter without problems. 

While storage levels in early 2026 are lower at the beginning of February than they were in previous years, fill levels of storage facilities are no longer the sole decisive factor in whether supply is secure, said Klaus Müller, president of the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA). He told the newspaper that LNG terminals at the North and Baltic Sea coasts “give Germany an additional degree of security.”

Timm Kehler, CEO of the industry association Gas and Hydrogen Industry, said that while LNG can certainly help the country meet demand in the short-term, half-empty storage facilities are “like insurance without coverage.” More efforts are therefore needed to replenish storage facilities throughout 2026, Kehler argued. The association called for a reliable regulatory framework and market incentives for storage filling, citing other European countries such as France, Italy, or Austria as examples. “At present, traders are caught between state requirements and the government’s desire to let market forces prevail,” said Kehler.

Relatively mild temperatures at the start of winter had slowed the depletion of gas storages this year, according to a statement from the gas storage operators association INES two weeks ago. While Norway is Germany’s dominant gas supplier, Europe’s biggest economy also sources more than 90 percent of its direct LNG from the US, in addition to considerable amounts of US LNG imports through third countries like France and the Netherlands. The EU as a whole sourced 57 percent of its LNG from the US in 2025.