Germany will run out of gas in spring – economy minister – RT Business News
Berlin has enough fuel to meet demand for less than three months, says Robert Habeck
Germany could face natural gas shortages as its storage facilities approach capacity, its economy minister has warned.
The country’s depots are more than 90% full, according to data from the Aggregated Gas Storage Inventory (AGSI), but they will be totally depleted by the end of winter as Berlin buys less gas from Russia, Robert Habeck told reporters on Monday.
“If all goes well with the fuel economy and we’re lucky with the weather, we have a chance to make it through the winter comfortably. However, this means that the storage facilities will be empty again at the end of winter – in this case, really empty, because we are going to use the gas”, he said.
In August, the head of Germany’s energy regulator, Klaus Muller, warned that even with 95% full storage, the country would have enough fuel to cover just two and a half months of heating, electricity and electricity. industrial demand if Russia came to a complete halt. deliveries.
Last week, Muller reiterated that Germany could face recurring gas bottlenecks in the event of a cold winter. “I expect waves. There are gas shortages, they go, they come back, they appear here, sometimes there, maybe all over Germany,” he said in an interview with the business daily Handelsblatt. He added that due to weather forecasts, Germany would not be able to forecast gas demand more than two weeks in advance.
Russia supplied around 40% of the gas for the European Union before the conflict in Ukraine. EU imports from the sanctioned country are currently below 9%, according to Brussels.
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