In view of the supply situation, the energy experts at the research institute are calling for an end to the alarm level in the gas emergency plan. The construction of new terminals for liquefied natural gas should also be reconsidered.
Two years after the Russian attack on Ukraine and the start of the energy crisis, the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) believes that the situation on the gas market has eased. A gas shortage, which would justify the accelerated expansion of liquefied natural gas (LNG) infrastructure since summer 2022, never occurred at any time.
The planned expansion of LNG import capacities is no longer necessary to this extent. “The oversized LNG infrastructure expansion is not necessary to avoid a potential gas shortage and should therefore not be pursued further,” says a DIW study presented in Berlin on Monday. The Funke media group had previously reported.
There was therefore never a risk of a gas shortage for the winter of 2023/24. The current gas storage levels in Germany and the EU were sufficient to provide sufficient supplies to both Germany and Eastern Europe, even in the potentially very cold months of February and March 2024.
Existing LNG terminals not fully utilized
According to DIW, the three existing floating LNG terminals in Germany were only half full. All terminals in Germany, Poland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy together are around two-thirds full. Even with high demand due to extreme cold, enough gas could have been obtained through higher utilization of the terminals and from the reserves in the storage facilities.
In view of the expected decline in natural gas consumption in Germany and the stabilization of supply, the DIW believes it is appropriate to put the projects and locations envisaged in the LNG Acceleration Act to the test. The federal government should refrain from developing land-based LNG terminals and reassess floating regasification plants.
DIW: Planned Mukran location not justified
With regard to the controversial planned Mukran location on Rügen, the experts write that there are no structural network bottlenecks that justify a terminal on Rügen. The development of import infrastructure there is neither necessary nor cost-effective.
In view of the supply situation, DIW expert Claudia Kemfert is calling for an end to the alert level in the gas emergency plan that the federal government announced in the summer of 2022. “There is no gas shortage and it is not foreseeable,” she told the Funke newspapers. “It’s time to repeal the gas emergency plan.”
Source: Stern
