After the big cold spell, the gas storage levels are falling a little more slowly again. Within a day, the Germans only take 0.1 percentage points of the supply. The need for heating is simply not that great anymore.
The milder weather means that demand for gas has fallen significantly. According to the European gas storage association GIE, the filling level of German gas storage facilities fell by only 0.1 percentage points to 87.2 percent on Tuesday. In the past week, it had fallen by more than a percentage point on four consecutive days, mainly due to the low temperatures.
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, recently recorded a filling level of almost 90.7 percent, according to data published on the Internet.
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 despite a Russian supply freeze, gas continues to flow to Germany through pipeline imports, on Tuesday from Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland. One day later, on Wednesday, gas was fed in for the first time at the new LNG terminal in Wilhelmshaven.
Economics Minister Habeck was recently optimistic in the RTL "Nachtjournal" that the gas storage tanks were no longer emptying so quickly because of the higher temperatures. He would like to thank the citizens. "They really save gas. That can be read statistically. Many people just don't heat their homes like they did in previous years," said Habeck. "It is with great admiration and great thanks from my side."
