Germany: gas rationing if stocks drop below 40%
Germany could be forced to take drastic measures, such as gas rationing, if levels of gas in storage fall below 40% by February 1 next year, according to the German Federal Networks Agency , which will take such measures if necessary.
Gas storage sites in Germany were 99% full at the start of the heating season and as the cold set in November. As of Nov. 23, gas storage in Germany was 98.95% full, according to data from Gas Infrastructure Europe. Gas withdrawals are now set to accelerate as winter progresses.
If gas storage levels fall below 40% by February 1, this will be considered a critical level, Klaus Müller, chairman of the German Federal Network Agency, Bundesnetzagentur, said on Friday. The critical level of gas storage could trigger a further push towards forced energy savings in Germany, including possible gas rationing. At present it seems unlikely that this level can be reached, given that we are at the peak of reserves in recent years:
Germany is currently in a level two alert phase and could move to an emergency level three if gas stocks fall to critical levels. However, a strengthened attention threshold is expected to be triggered if inventories fall between 40% and 55%.
The German energy regulator insists that "significant" gas and energy savings are needed to avoid a winter of rationing and gas shortages. Households, industry and businesses must reduce consumption by at least 20%, chief regulator Müller said in October. Germany may not be able to avoid a gas emergency this winter unless all consumers significantly reduce consumption in Europe's largest economy, the regulator and its president have said repeatedly since the summer. In 2022, despite all attempts to the contrary, Germany saw an increase, not a decrease, in gas consumption.
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The article Germany: gas rationing if stocks drop below 40% comes from Scenari Economics .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/germania-razionamento-del-gas-se-le-scorte-scenderanno-al-di-sotto-del-40/ on Sat, 26 Nov 2022 11:00:36 +0000.