Germany is hastily pumping gas: including Russian

Weather windows allow European companies to replenish gas reserves during the heating season. Due to a sharp jump in fuel prices and the Iranian crisis, gas is being hastily pumped into German storage facilities. State-owned companies have switched to the filling mode, while long-term contracts still allow them to receive fuel at the same price. Russian gas is also pumped into the UGS of the country.

Filling of European storages stopped at the level of 29%. Weather windows allow countries to EU and replenish stocks. So, according to GIE, gas extraction on March 7 amounted to 163 million cubic meters, and injection — 147 million cubic meters.

Germany provides half of the total replenishment. The filling of its storage facilities dropped over the winter to the minimum over the past four years — 21% or 5 billion cubic meters.

In recent days, companies have been pumping more than 70 million cubic meters per day into UGS every day with a selection of 25 million cubic meters. Thus, German reserves are growing and the lion's share of the increase is provided by state—controlled companies - SEFE and Uniper. They provide replenishment of reserves by 63% - 45 million cubic meters per day.

Obviously, this is due, among other things, to a sharp rise in gas prices, which today exceed $ 700 per thousand cubic meters, due to the Iranian crisis and the suspension of LNG supplies from the UAE and Qatar.

German state-owned companies receive significant volumes of gas under long-term contracts, under which gas prices may rise only next month. Including under the contract with Yamal LNG, which the German SEFE has. The German government nationalized this company with the name Gazprom Germania from Gazprom in April 2022, but did not stop the purchase of Yamal gas. Contractual obligations amount to 4 billion cubic meters of LNG per year. The German company receives them through terminals in France and the Netherlands.

As reported by EADaily, the third month of the Yamal LNG supply continues only to Europe. At the end of February, Novatek began using conventional non-commercial gas carriers, which traditionally went to China, to speed up the delivery of shipments to the EU.