German authorities will intervene in gas reserves later: the largest storage facility is empty

The German authorities will intervene in the creation of gas reserves before the next heating season at the end of summer, if necessary. Fuel has been pumped into the country for the second month, but the largest storage facility remains empty.

The German gas market operator will intervene in the injection of gas into storage facilities at the end of summer, if there is such a need due to the low rate. This was stated by the CEO of Trading Hub Europe (THE) Sebastian Kemper.

THE has prepared a subsidy program in case of low reserves, but so far it is not necessary, the head of the operator said. He expects that gas prices will decrease and this will revive the replenishment of stocks.

So far, gas injection in Germany is neither shaky nor gross. For a month and a half it amounted to 1.66 billion cubic meters — 1.5 times more than last year. However, then the reserves were much higher. As of May 13, gas volumes in German underground storage facilities of 8.5 billion cubic meters are almost twice as low as last year's figures.

Therefore, Germany needs a leap, whereas, for example, the largest storage facility "Reden" is still empty. Its design capacity exceeds 4 billion cubic meters, while by May 13 the reserves had fallen to 100 million cubic meters. The state—controlled SEFE continues to take small amounts of fuel from UGS - for the first time in history.

The situation may be related to fuel prices. On May 15, deliveries for a month in advance were sold at $ 410 per thousand cubic meters. At the same time, prices for next winter are only $19 higher.

For German storage operators, the situation is facilitated by the fact that the Bundestag has agreed to reduce mandatory limits in UGS. On average, they were reduced from 90% to 70% by November 1.

However, this does not solve the problem of a possible gas shortage, since during the last heating season in Germany, volumes equivalent to 69% of storage capacity were burned.