Overview
- Regulator figures show German gas storage was roughly 48–49% full in mid‑August, well below last year’s level and under customary pre‑winter targets.
- Uniper and storage group INES warned this week that high spot LNG prices near €60/MWh remove the usual profit motive for summer injections and could keep operators from filling stores to the required levels.
- The Bundesnetzagentur counters that more than 70% of storage capacity for 2026/27 has been booked and that LNG imports plus European network links keep overall supply stable for now.
- The federal government has so far relied on market measures and announced a strategic reserve that will not be ready until 2027, leaving the choice between costly state purchases or legal changes before winter.
- Since 2022 Germany has set mandatory storage targets after losing Russian pipeline gas, so failure to refill this year could force short‑term rationing in a very cold winter and revive the precedent of state procurement used in 2022.