Germany to create strategic gas reserve to guard against emergencies

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The German government on Wednesday approved a draft bill to create a strategic gas reserve intended to secure the country's "energy resilience" in case of an emergency. Set to be…

The German government on Wednesday approved a draft bill to create a strategic gas reserve intended to secure the country's "energy resilience" in case of an emergency.

Set to be financed through a surcharge on consumers, the reserve is due to hold 24 terawatt-hours (TWh) of gas, around 10 percent of the country's storage capacity.

From 2027, it is intended to replace the mandatory gas storage targets introduced after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

"The past years have shown us how quickly an apparently secure energy supply can start to falter," said Energy Minister Katherina Reiche.

"The strategic gas reserve does not insure us against high prices, but against crisis situations."

Since the loss of Russian gas due to Russia's war with Ukraine, Europe's biggest economy has scrambled to find new energy supplies.

Costs have soared again this year due to the US war on Iran, with European gas prices hitting their highest levels since 2022 in October.

Data from storage tracking platform AGSI shows that Germany's gas facilities are only 59 percent full, well under the EU average of nearly 75 percent and lagging behind the legally mandated target of 70 percent by November 1.

But Reiche insisted that "the supply is secured for this winter according to current assessments," pointing to diversified sources of supplies such as liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports.

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