The energy crisis is not over yet, Klaus Müller, the president of Germany's energy regulator, told the Funke media outlet on Wednesday.
Despite the fact that the levels of natural gas in storage are more comfortable than in the previous two years, the crisis is far from over, and weather will be the biggest factor, Müller, president of Germany’s Federal Network Agency, Bundesnetzagentur, said.
As of June 6, storage tanks in Germany were 76% full, while in the EU the overall level is just over 70%, according to data from Gas Infrastructure Europe.
“If everything goes well, we will have full storage facilities in the late summer,” Müller said, referring to Germany’s storage levels.
The regulator said in its latest weekly report that “to secure the gas supply for next winter, there must be a storage level of 75% by 1 September.”
“It was possible to prevent a gas deficit situation last winter. At the same time, preparing for the 2023/2024 winter is a key challenge. It is therefore still important to save gas,” the regulator added.
Germany’s natural gas consumption in the week beginning May 22 was 23.2% below the average consumption for the 2018-2021 period, and down by 9% compared with the week prior, the regulator added.
Last month, one of Germany’s top utility firms, E.On, said that the energy crisis is not over yet, and the situation with energy supply in Europe could deteriorate later this year.
“The crisis is not over yet,” E.On’s chief financial officer Marc Spieker said at the presentation of the utility giant’s first-quarter results in early May.
“Compared with the current market environment, our forecast also factors in the possibility of a further deterioration in the remainder of the year. We believe we are well-positioned to deal with the volatility that is expected to continue,” Spieker added.
Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
