Secure supply with gas

Securing the supply of our customers

Natural gas and German industry are closely intermeshed. Natural gas still provides around a quarter of the energy required in Germany. Every second home still heats with natural gas. 1.8 million commercial and industrial companies use the energy carrier to produce heat and electricity for their processes or use natural gas directly as a raw material in their products, for example in the chemical industry.
 

Due to the vital role played by natural gas, a secure gas supply is invaluable – something of which we have all been reminded in recent months. We are committed to supplying our customers with the required and contracted gas volumes, even in challenging times, and play our part in keeping homes warm and production lines running. We see this is more than just an obligation imposed on us: in this way, we actively fulfil our responsibility to customers and society. 

Natural gas as an energy source for the energy transition

Furthermore, natural gas is assuming an important role in the transition to the regenerative age. Natural gas has lower emissions than coal or oil. In the medium term – after the gas crisis of 2022 has been overcome and the diversification of supply sources has been completed – Germany is therefore likely to make greater use of natural gas as a bridging technology to make the transition to renewable energies as climate-friendly, economical and supply-secure as possible.

Another advantage of this energy carrier is the well-developed infrastructure with an extensive gas pipeline network and storage facilities. The latter are the backbone of energy supply system and contribute to a stable system in Germany and the rest of Europe. 

Even though natural gas has excellent properties, to reach the goal of climate-neutral lifestyles and climate-neutral industry, the energy source must be further developed, along with its infrastructure and applications. Hydrogen and biogas are set to replace today’s natural gas and, together with renewable electricity, to provide climate-neutral power for households and industry. The transformation of the gas economy has long been in progress. We also committed to this and are actively involved in this future and in a transformation that will secure future energy supplies.

Trading relations successfully diversified

Even under the difficult conditions of 2022, we have fulfilled our mission of reliably supplying gas to businesses and municipal utilities, from which millions of homes buy natural gas for heating. This has been achieved in part by securing increased supply volumes, for example from Norway. For the most part, however, it was necessary to obtain natural gas at short notice on the spot and forward markets. 

We are expecting long-term relief on the upward pressure on gas prices by 2024 at the latest. This view is shared by numerous market observers and experts. Nevertheless, we will continue to diversify our natural gas purchases in order to continue to meet our priority objective of security of supply.