{"id":544434,"date":"2026-08-25T12:38:27","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T10:38:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/silicon-saxony.de\/smwa-low-natural-gas-storage-levels-saxony-calls-on-the-federal-minister-of-economic-affairs-to-take-action\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T12:38:27","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T10:38:27","slug":"smwa-low-natural-gas-storage-levels-saxony-calls-on-the-federal-minister-of-economic-affairs-to-take-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/silicon-saxony.de\/en\/smwa-low-natural-gas-storage-levels-saxony-calls-on-the-federal-minister-of-economic-affairs-to-take-action\/","title":{"rendered":"SMWA: Low Natural Gas Storage Levels \u2013 Saxony Calls on the Federal Minister of Economic Affairs to Take Action"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"width: 25%;\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.pblzr.de\/dacbb27c-1270-4041-b681-e2b95f06f8a1\/2026\/08\/smwa-logo-400x300_TEXT.jpg\"><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Appeals aren\u2019t enough. If storage levels fall significantly short of last year\u2019s, the federal government must take responsibility and provide clarity,&#8221; says Dirk Panter, Saxony\u2019s Minister of Economic Affairs and Energy.<\/p>\n<p>Security of supply should not depend solely on whether suppliers purchase enough gas given the current high wholesale prices. \u201cIt is the federal government\u2019s responsibility to take appropriate measures in a timely manner if it becomes apparent that the statutory storage level requirements will not be met. The minister must explain how she intends to ensure the supply to households and the economy\u2014and she must do so before a critical situation arises,\u201d the minister continued.<\/p>\n<p>Under the current Gas Storage Level Regulation, a fill level requirement of 80 percent generally applies to most storage facilities as of November 1; different requirements apply to certain porous storage facilities. Overall, this corresponds to a target of around 70 percent.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGermany must not pin its hopes on a mild winter, falling prices, or uninterrupted international gas supplies. Security of supply is not a matter of good weather, nor is it a game of playing for time. The federal government must take precautions now and disclose which instruments are available in an emergency,\u201d Panter demands.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"\">Establish a Strategic Gas Reserve<\/h3>\n<p>In addition, Saxony is once again calling for swift action to establish a national strategic gas reserve. This reserve must be built up in addition to the volumes procured on the market and used exclusively in clearly defined crisis situations when short-term crises overwhelm the regular gas market.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe must be better prepared for crisis situations. A strategic gas reserve does not replace the market, but rather provides additional security for extraordinary circumstances,\u201d explains Panter.<\/p>\n<p>Saxony had already raised this demand at the Conference of Energy Ministers. The motion to establish a strategic gas reserve was unanimously adopted by the Conference of Energy Ministers in May 2026, along with other proposals from Saxony.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211;<\/p>\n<h4 class=\"\">Related Links<\/h4>\n<p>\ud83d\udc49&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.smwa.sachsen.de\" target=\"_blank\">www.smwa.sachsen.de<\/a>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><i>Photo: unsplash<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>August 21, 2026. The fact that German natural gas storage levels are significantly below last year\u2019s levels is a warning sign. The Free State of Saxony expects the federal government\u2014and in particular Federal Minister of Economic Affairs Katherina Reiche\u2014to take decisive action now, rather than issuing further appeals to market participants. According to the European Association of Gas Infrastructure Operators, German storage facilities were only 50.06 percent full as of August 17, 2026. In the previous year, the fill level at that time was just under 67 percent. At the same time, the industry association FNB-Gas points out that the statutory storage target for November 1 is likely to be very difficult to meet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4809],"tags":[1975,1982,1970],"class_list":["post-544434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entrepreneurship","tag-ecology-energy-transition","tag-resilience","tag-sustainability"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>SMWA: Low Natural Gas Storage Levels \u2013 Saxony Calls on the Federal Minister of Economic Affairs to Take Action - Silicon Saxony<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/silicon-saxony.de\/en\/smwa-low-natural-gas-storage-levels-saxony-calls-on-the-federal-minister-of-economic-affairs-to-take-action\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SMWA: Low Natural Gas Storage Levels \u2013 Saxony Calls on the Federal Minister of Economic Affairs to Take Action - Silicon Saxony\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"August 21, 2026. The fact that German natural gas storage levels are significantly below last year\u2019s levels is a warning sign. The Free State of Saxony expects the federal government\u2014and in particular Federal Minister of Economic Affairs Katherina Reiche\u2014to take decisive action now, rather than issuing further appeals to market participants. According to the European Association of Gas Infrastructure Operators, German storage facilities were only 50.06 percent full as of August 17, 2026. In the previous year, the fill level at that time was just under 67 percent. At the same time, the industry association FNB-Gas points out that the statutory storage target for November 1 is likely to be very difficult to meet.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/silicon-saxony.de\/en\/smwa-low-natural-gas-storage-levels-saxony-calls-on-the-federal-minister-of-economic-affairs-to-take-action\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Silicon Saxony\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-25T10:38:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cdn.pblzr.de\/dacbb27c-1270-4041-b681-e2b95f06f8a1\/2026\/08\/smwa-logo-400x300_TEXT.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"publizer2silisax\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"publizer2silisax\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/silicon-saxony.de\/en\/smwa-low-natural-gas-storage-levels-saxony-calls-on-the-federal-minister-of-economic-affairs-to-take-action\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/silicon-saxony.de\/en\/smwa-low-natural-gas-storage-levels-saxony-calls-on-the-federal-minister-of-economic-affairs-to-take-action\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"publizer2silisax\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/silicon-saxony.de\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/098cd473f5dd7707320dd1e252e15ac6\"},\"headline\":\"SMWA: Low Natural Gas Storage Levels \u2013 Saxony Calls on the Federal Minister of Economic Affairs to Take Action\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-25T10:38:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/silicon-saxony.de\/en\/smwa-low-natural-gas-storage-levels-saxony-calls-on-the-federal-minister-of-economic-affairs-to-take-action\/\"},\"wordCount\":355,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/silicon-saxony.de\/en\/smwa-low-natural-gas-storage-levels-saxony-calls-on-the-federal-minister-of-economic-affairs-to-take-action\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/cdn.pblzr.de\/dacbb27c-1270-4041-b681-e2b95f06f8a1\/2026\/08\/smwa-logo-400x300_TEXT.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Ecology &amp; 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