Germany’s Natural Gas Bill Doubled In 2022 Despite Import Volumes Falling

Germany paid more than double for natural gas last year compared to 2021 amid soaring prices in the energy crisis despite a 30% decline in import volumes, according to data from the Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control, BAFA.  

Germany paid as much as $79 billion (74 billion euros) for natural gas imports, more than double compared to the $37.8 billion (35.4 billion euros) it spent on importing gas in 2021, showed the official data reported by Reuters.

In 2022, the average price Germany paid at the border surged by 197.3% to $22,440 (21,007 euros) per terajoule (TJ).

Germany no longer receives Russian gas via Nord Stream, which was sabotaged in the autumn of 2022. Even before that, Russia had slashed pipeline flows via Nord Stream, citing Western sanctions that prevented gas turbine maintenance.

Faced with the prospect of no Russian gas this winter, Germany rushed to install floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs). Two of those FSRUs are already operational, while a third is in the commissioning stage.

Europe’s biggest economy plans to have as much as 70.7 million tons per year of LNG import capacity by 2030, which will make it the fourth-largest LNG import capacity holder in the world by the end of this decade, Argus reported last week, citing plans by the German economy ministry and energy group RWE.

Germany plans to have a total of 10 FSRUs, some of which will be removed and replaced by onshore regasification facilities once they are built. The rush to have LNG import terminals as soon as possible will make Germany the fourth largest import capacity holder behind the major Asian LNG buyers South Korea, China, and Japan.

Governments in Europe, including Germany, are now more comfortable with the gas supply situation for the rest of the winter, especially after the warm start to the heating season and a warm start to January. The unseasonably warm weather has prevented massive drawdowns from gas inventories and has sent the benchmark EU gas prices lower in recent weeks.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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