UPDATES WITH NEW REPORT ON GAS STORAGE LEVEL, EDITS THROUGHOUT
BERLIN (AA) – Germany may face a gas shortage in the first months of next year, the country's energy regulator warned on Monday.
Klaus Muller, chief of the Federal Network Agency, said the energy savings of households and businesses were insufficient and remained only 5% below the consumption of last year.
"Maybe we won't need to sound the alarm in the text two or three weeks. But this cannot continue like this throughout January and February," he told daily Suddeutsche Zeitung.
Muller stressed that German households and businesses must reduce gas consumption by 20% to avoid shortages in the coming months.
He warned that the risk of a colder winter, increased demand for gas in neighboring countries, and potential acts of sabotage against the energy structure, could lead to gas shortage in the country.
Germany, which is the EU's largest economy, is facing a severe energy crisis due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, which led to disruptions in the gas supply and pushed energy prices to record highs.
Although the country's gas storage facilities were at full capacity last month, storage levels dropped to under 88% this week as consumption rose due to colder-than-average temperatures.
"Overall, the Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur) still views the situation as tense and cannot rule out a further worsening of the situation," the regulator said in its report released on Monday.
It warned of a "national gas supply emergency" in the coming months unless consumption is reduced by at least 20% and planned liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals start operating at the beginning of 2023.
The German government is trying to address the energy crisis by purchasing more gas from Norway and increasing imports via pipelines from Belgium and the Netherlands.
To receive enough LNG to entirely replace Russian gas, Berlin is also building seven terminals at northern German ports.
Since the explosions in the Nord Stream undersea pipelines in September, Germany has been importing no gas from Russia.
Before the start of the war in Ukraine in February, Russia was supplying nearly 55% of Germany's natural gas.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz's coalition government joined Western sanctions against Moscow and also announced plans to end is reliance of Russian energy.