A floating LNG terminal in Germany

Frankfurt (Germany) (AFP) - Germany insisted Monday that it would have enough gas for the winter despite missing a storage target as the Middle East war keeps global energy prices high.

Since the loss of Russian gas following Moscow’s war against Ukraine, Europe’s biggest economy has scrambled to find new energy supplies, with worries mounting before the coldest months of the year.

The situation has worsened as costs soared after the US war on Iran, with European gas prices hitting their highest levels last week since 2022.

German gas storage facilities are on average 61 percent full, according to the federal agency that oversees Germany’s energy infrastructure and markets.

That is below a legally mandated target for 70 percent by November 1. It also lags behind the European Union average of nearly 75 percent, according to the storage tracking platform AGSI.

But the economy ministry, in a statement to AFP, said that “gas supply in Germany is secured for the coming winter even at the current storage levels”.

The country has diversified its supply sources since the energy shock that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, a spokeswoman said.

Increased supplies of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in particular had helped, she said.

Germany has built up import capacities, including with new LNG delivery terminals. It gets most of its LNG from the United States though some also comes from the Middle East.

“For these reasons, the 70 percent storage level value must be interpreted flexibly and considered in light of the overall supply situation,” the ministry spokeswoman said.

The federal network agency also told AFP it was “not strictly necessary” to meet the November 1 deadline to ensure supply security.

This depends on a mix of “pipeline imports, storage facilities, LNG imports, infrastructure and demand,” a spokeswoman told AFP, adding that the agency considered the risks of shortages to be low.

But INES, Germany’s gas storage industry association, said missing the deadline was a “clear signal that the instruments for ensuring winter preparedness need to be further developed”.

Tougher laws were needed to ensure targets were met, it said in a statement.

There have been signs the government is growing worried.

In September the economy ministry ordered a state-owned energy company to boost gas reserves, citing “ongoing geopolitical risks”.

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