The operators of gas storage facilities in Germany have warned that the window for filling their sites is closing. "Technically, a fill level of around 77 percent can still be reached by 1 November," the Initiative Energien Speichern (Ines) said on Tuesday. "But what is decisive now is whether storage customers actually fill the capacities they have booked, and whether this happens quickly enough."
At around 53 percent, Germany's gas storage facilities entered the final two months of the filling phase with a "historically low fill level", the industry association said. The sites are currently just over 54.5 percent full. At the beginning of September 2025, the average fill level stood at 71 percent.
High world market prices in the wake of the Iran war and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz mean that importing and storing natural gas is barely worthwhile at present. "The price differences between injection and withdrawal are currently not sufficient to cover the associated costs," Ines said on the matter last week.
The gas storage operators themselves consider a fill level of 77 percent, the level theoretically still within reach, insufficient in the event of a very cold winter. The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs, by contrast, sees no indication of a gas shortage, particularly because Germany, unlike during the 2022 gas crisis, now has its own liquefied natural gas import terminals allowing it to import more gas on an ongoing basis. There is, however, reason to fear that prices will then rise significantly over the winter.
Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Katherina Reiche (CDU) rejects state intervention. Because of the gas storage requirements in particular, it nevertheless remains on the table. The state rules stipulate that most storage facilities must be at least 80 percent full by 1 November, something that in many cases is already barely achievable.
If the targets are not met, the state can order the filling to be carried out, and one fear is that gas sellers are speculating on precisely this, since the state would then presumably buy at any price.
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