Germany’s Gas Storage Filling Up Faster Than Planned as Fears of Winter Shortage Ease
Germany’s Economy Minister Robert Habeck said on Aug. 28 that the country’s gas storage facilities are filling up faster than planned, providing some hope amid fears of chronic shortages this winter due to a reduction in supplies from Russia.
“The reservoirs are filling up faster than specified,” Habeck told Der Spiegel magazine. He added that the government expects it could reach its target of 85 percent capacity by September, a month earlier than the original goal of October.
According to a government regulation introduced a month prior, storage must be at 85 percent capacity by Oct. 1 and 95 percent capacity by Nov. 1.
Overall storage was at 81.28 percent capacity as of Friday, according to the Federal Network Agency’s latest report. Storage at the Rehden facility in northern Germany, one of the largest pore storage facilities in Western Europe, was at 63.41 percent….