Because of alleged maintenance work, no gas has been flowing through the Baltic Sea pipeline Nord Stream 1 since Monday. In order to cover the demand, the first gas storage facilities in Germany have to be tapped.
After Russian gas deliveries through the Baltic Sea pipeline Nord Stream 1 were stopped, the gas suppliers are now using gas storage again to meet demand. According to information from Europe’s gas infrastructure operator (GIE), the filling level of German gas storage facilities fell slightly by 0.06 percent on Wednesday. The day before it had risen by 0.09 percent.
“It is now being saved again – but only to a small extent,” said a spokeswoman for the Federal Network Agency on Thursday. In view of the lack of deliveries from Russia, the gas suppliers used other means. They either shopped elsewhere in the market or resorted to the gas storage facilities. That is also a question of price.
In order to avoid a gas shortage in winter, Germany is currently trying to fill its gas storage facilities as quickly as possible. According to the law, the gas storage tanks should be 80 percent full by October 1st and 90 percent by November 1st. However, Germany is still a long way from this goal. The gas storage tanks are just 64.5 percent full.
The fact that the gas storage tanks are currently not being filled up is largely due to the stop in Russian deliveries through the Baltic Sea pipeline Nord Stream 1. No gas has been delivered through the last most important route for Russian natural gas to Germany since Monday due to maintenance work. According to the operating company, the work should last until July 21. In Germany there is concern that the pipeline will not be put back into operation after the maintenance work and that gas will run out in winter.
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