German 2022 gas usage fell 13.6% but needs securing - industry lobby

Mainova AG

13/02/2023 10:00

FRANKFURT, Feb 13 (Reuters) - German gas industry lobby
Zukunft Gas on Monday pegged annual national usage of natural
gas at 866.2 terawatt hours (TWh), down 13.6% from 2021, adding
that gas procurement remains the top priority.
    Gas accounted for 13.3% of power generation and half of home
heating in the country with a population of 84.3 million, the
group's statistics showed.
    The drop in gas usage came as Germany responded to sharply
lower gas exports from Russia in retaliation against Western
opposition to the invasion of Ukraine.
    The lower usage reflects consumers' discipline as well as
benign weather, according to the lobby, which represents
utilities, traders and pipeline operators including Uniper
 UN01.DE , Wintershall Dea and VNG  EBKG.DE .
    The role of gas in primary energy supply amounted to 23.8%,
second only to mineral oil's 35.2%, Zukunft Gas Managing
Director Timm Kehler said.
    "The crisis forces us to rethink gas. Our efforts to
decarbonise and transform have received a new impetus."
    Economy Minister Robert Habeck of the Green Party has made
clear that new gas infrastructure needs to be what is
technically called "hydrogen-ready".
    Germany's multi-layered gas strategy includes a focus on
alternative origins, while a new power plant and market strategy
will be presented in the first half 2023.
    Floating terminals have been installed to receive liquefied
natural gas (LNG), and Habeck is nurturing plans to build
gas-fired power capacity of around 15 gigawatts (GW) by 2030, to
replace the planned end of coal and nuclear energy.
    Gas is vital to complement intermittent renewables in power
generation, but investors are hesitant and need incentives,
Kehler said.
    Gregor Pett, a senior market analytics official at Uniper,
said would-be LNG suppliers to Germany needed contracts
stretching beyond 10 years to bite.
 (Reporting by Vera Eckert; Editing by Miranda Murray and
Shounak Dasgupta)
 ((vera.eckert@thomsonreuters.com; +49 30 2201 33654;
@EckertVera))