BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - Germany's gas storage facilities will be well filled at the end of this winter, according to an industry estimate. Assuming a "normal" temperature course, the storage facilities would be 65 percent full at the end of March and at the end of April respectively, the storage association Initiative Energien Speichern (Ines) announced in Berlin on Tuesday.

That would be significantly more than in 2022, when it was 26 percent at the end of March and 35 percent at the end of April. Currently, the fill level is around 91 percent. This is due to reduced energy consumption and additional imports to compensate for the lack of imports from Russia.

In the model calculation, it was assumed that the rest of the winter in the EU would develop as in 2016 - i.e. "normally". Even with extremely low temperatures and other negative events, the association does not anticipate a gas shortage. "If the current strong consumption savings continue, Germany will get through the winter well," said Ines managing director Sebastian Bleschke. The association has 14 member companies, which have more than 90 percent of the gas storage capacity in Germany./wdw/DP/jha