German regulator chief urges continued gas savings as 'risks remain'

The head of the German energy regulator on Dec. 31 urged consumers to continue to save gas, saying that "risks remain" despite well-filled gas storage sites.

Bundesnetzagentur President Klaus Muller said saving gas would also save consumers money.

"Even though Germany has come through the first half of the winter well so far and the gas storage facilities are well filled, residual risks remain," Muller said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

"In any case, it is still worthwhile to save gas and thereby ease the burden on your own wallet," he said.

According to data from Gas Infrastructure Europe, Germany's gas storage sites are currently built to 80.6% of capacity.

Despite being one of the highest storage levels by capacity currently in the EU, it is still well down on the 91% stock build registered in Germany at the same time last year.

Cold weather in November and into December saw relatively strong withdrawals from German storage sites, bringing stock levels down from a peak of 98.3% recorded at the start of November.

Germany met its final gas storage target of 95% fullness for 2024 at the end of August, well ahead of its self-imposed Nov. 1 deadline.

Summer-winter spread

Despite the relatively high stocks, industry group INES said in November that it was increasingly concerned about refilling storage facilities next summer, with current price signals not providing sufficient incentive for injections.

The Summer 25 TTF price remains at a premium to the Winter 25 equivalent, affecting traditional storage economics that usually incentivize filling in summer and withdrawals in winter.

Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, assessed the Summer 25 TTF contract at Eur47.16/MWh on Dec. 30 compared with a Winter 25 TTF price of Eur43.57/MWh.

Germany, which has the largest gas storage capacity in the EU, set strict storage targets in mid-2022, exceeding those agreed at the EU level.

The Gas Storage Act, effective until at least April 2027, requires Germany to fill its facilities to 85% by Oct. 1, 95% by Nov. 1, and to have stocks built to at least 30% by Feb. 1 each year.

Gas consumption in Germany has stayed significantly below pre-crisis levels from 2022 through 2024, with demand spiking mostly during unseasonably cold weather and during low wind periods.

German gas-for-power demand has been relatively high in the fourth quarter due to periods of low wind and solar power generation -- the so-called "Dunkelflaute" phenomenon.