What Putin’s escalation means for energy prices

Overall, the filling levels in Germany are currently around 31 percent, which is, however, again within the normal range. “Since last Sunday, the storage levels have returned to the historical corridor,” says Sebastian Bleschke, Managing Director of the Gas Storage Association Initiative Energies Storage (INES). “The filling levels are therefore still very low, but no longer historically low.” His assessment: “Due to the persistently mild temperatures, the gas supply situation has eased.” Thirdly, and this also caused uncertainty, it remained unclear over the winter how Germany and Europe would be able to secure energy supplies if Putin were to largely or even completely cut off the supply of Russian natural gas. Hydrogen, which Chancellor Olaf Scholz addressed on Tuesday, is a long-term perspective, but not in the short or even in the medium term.