Germany may face gas shortage in January, February, energy regulator warns

BERLIN (AA) – Germany may face gas shortage in the first months of next year, the country’s energy regulator warned on Monday.

Klaus Muller, chief of the Federal Network Agency, said the energy savings of households and businesses were insufficient and remained only 5% below the consumption of last year.

“Maybe we won’t need to sound the alarm in the text two or three weeks. But this cannot continue like this throughout January and February,” he told daily Suddeutsche Zeitung.

Muller stressed that German households and businesses must reduce gas consumption by 20% to avoid shortages in the coming months.

He warned that the risk of a colder winter, increased demand for gas in neighboring countries, and potential acts of sabotage against the energy structure, could lead to gas shortage in the country.

Germany, which is the EU’s largest economy, facing a severe energy crisis due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, which led to disruptions in the gas supply and pushed energy prices to record highs.

Although the country has managed to fill gas storage facilities to 90% capacity as of last week, experts are warning that this does not guarantee there will not be rationing of gas or power cuts in the colder winter months.

The storage facilities also need a continuous flow of gas from the pipelines to maintain sufficient pressure.

The German government is trying to diversify its natural gas supply sources by purchasing more gas from Norway and increasing imports via pipelines from Belgium and the Netherlands.

To receive enough liquified natural gas to replace Russian gas entirely in the coming years, Berlin is also building LNG terminals at the northern German ports of Brunsbuttel, Stade, and Lubmin.

Since the explosions in the Nord Stream undersea pipelines in September, Germany has been importing no gas from Russia.

Before the start of the war in Ukraine in February, Russia was supplying nearly 55% of Germany’s natural gas.