Gas trader Gasterra indicated earlier that further filling – without guarantees from the government – entails major financial risks.
A decision will probably be made in the Council of Ministers on Friday about additional subsidies that will entice market parties to make additional supplements, sources from The Hague report. “This covers risks,” says a well-informed source. Earlier, the House of Representatives urged the cabinet to fill our large gas storage facilities beyond the European minimum of 80 percent (on 1 October). The Mijnraad, a group of independent experts, also made this recommendation. The cabinet previously made hundreds of millions available to fill the gas storage facility under Alkmaar (Bergermeer).
Pepper time
Filling the gas storage facilities is currently a very expensive affair: about 250 euros per megawatt hour of gas had to be paid on Tuesday, about fifteen times higher than in 2020. Electricity prices are also going through the roof: on Wednesday, electricity in the Netherlands costs an average of 540 euros per month. megawatt hour, energy expert Martien Visser expects. “And that’s 20 percent more expensive than Tuesday’s record.”
The previous subsidy scheme is aimed at stimulating gas companies by means of a financial guarantee to supplement the Bergermeer gas storage facility before 1 November. This storage, mainly intended for industry, is already 56.6 percent full, but should come to a total of 68 percent. Without financial support, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate previously reported that filling is not attractive for market parties ‘because the high prices and the associated risks of (very high) losses are too great. Gas prices are normally low in summer (low demand) and high in winter (high demand). At the moment, the outlook is just the opposite.”
However, energy expert Visser states that commercial filling now produces “a small loss of a few percent of the gas price.” Visser: “Its social value, on the other hand, better security of supply, is great. The fact that market parties such as Shell and Exxon (via GasTerra) do not do this is food for thought: are we on the right track?”