A month ago, the Russian state-owned company Gazprom wanted to start filling up German gas storage facilities. Not that much of it has arrived yet.
The increase in delivery volumes to Germany announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin at the end of October cannot yet be read from the fill level of Gazprom gas storage facilities.
The German storage of the company Astora, a subsidiary of the Russian state group Gazprom, was only about 18 percent full on Wednesday (December 8th). Gazprom announced on November 9th that it had started feeding gas into five European underground facilities. On November 8th, according to an overview of the European storage companies, the German Gazprom storage facilities were still 22 percent full.
The «Spiegel» had previously reported on Friday. At the request of the news magazine, Astora explains that as an operator of gas storage facilities, “due to legal requirements, you have no influence on customer behavior and fill levels”.
Critics had repeatedly accused Gazprom of not responding to the increased European demand. It was suspected that the Russian side wanted to force the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline into operation quickly. Moscow denied such allegations. Rather, Russia accuses the EU of neglecting to refill its gas storage facilities in time after the last cold winter.
Wholesale prices at record levels
According to the comparison portal Check24, the wholesale prices for gas are currently at a record level. According to this, a megawatt hour of natural gas last cost a good 81 euros, a year ago it was just under 14 euros. According to the comparison portal Verivox, gas prices for consumers have also reached a record level.
The Russian state agency Tass reported that Gazprom continues to deliver through the various lines. Russia had always insisted on meeting its commitments in full. However, overall there are still no delivery quantities that would be necessary to replenish storage facilities quickly. There are different reasons for this.
Gazprom itself had stated that it would use the transit through Ukraine, but would not book any additional delivery quantities at the auctions because the transit fees were too high. Putin had also stated that the pipeline network in Ukraine was ailing and prone to failure. Nord Stream 1 is in normal operation. Russia had always pointed out that the situation could be eased by the commissioning of Nord Stream 2.
Overall, the European storage facilities of the companies represented in the Gas Infrastructure Europe industry association were a good 64 percent full on Wednesday – with the downward trend that is customary for the time of year. However, the level on December 8th of the previous year was just under 84 percent. The current storage level is the lowest level on December 8th since at least 2011, as can be seen from an overview of the association. The previous low on this date was 74.9 percent in 2016. The gas storage facilities in Germany were 61 percent full on Wednesday (previous year: 83 percent).
Source From: Stern
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
