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Norway overtakes Russia: Germany's new natural gas hero!
Wilhelmshaven will experience a change in Germany's energy supply in 2025 due to increased LNG use.
Norway overtakes Russia: Germany's new natural gas hero!
The changes in the German gas supply are obvious. Until a few years ago, Russia was the most important natural gas supplier for Germany, but today the situation is completely different. The energy market has changed significantly, especially since the end of pipeline deliveries in 2022. Norway has established itself as the new main partner for gas supply. Current statistics show that Germany imported around 865 terawatt hours (TWh) of natural gas in 2024, with 48% coming from Norway, while the Netherlands and Belgium followed with 25% and 18%. Liquefied natural gas (LNG) also had a share of around 8%, which is around 68 TWh of this total, according to the Futurezone reported.
The situation has changed so much that no relevant data on Russian pipeline volumes has appeared in German statistics since the beginning of 2023. The last transit via Ukraine will also end on January 1, 2025. In this context, the adjustments made by households and small businesses are noteworthy. They have reduced their gas requirements by 17%, while industry has reduced its consumption by 12%, which is not least due to the mild temperatures in 2024, which were on average 0.9 °C above the values from 2018 to 2021.
Stable supply despite challenges
Overall, gas consumption in Germany increased slightly in 2024, to a total of 844 TWh. However, this is 14% below the 2018-2021 average. The federal government has also taken significant steps to secure gas supplies and stabilize the price situation. Prices for gas imports were between 36 and 52 euros per megawatt hour (€/MWh) in the first half of 2025 - a welcome decline compared to highs of over 200 €/MWh in 2022.
In order to increase security of supply in the country, the import infrastructure was expanded, in particular through the construction of new LNG terminals. These offer a flexible and short-term procurement option for LNG on the international market. A large part of the LNG comes from the USA. There is currently a good supply situation with storage levels of 85% in July 2024 and 98% at the beginning of November 2024. However, it is important to continue to monitor developments closely, as technical restrictions and maintenance work can affect the gas flow at any time, such as Federal Network Agency explained.
Overall, it can be said that existing government measures and continuous monitoring of storage levels ensure that the stability of the gas supply is ensured and that households have kept their total consumption noticeably below pre-crisis levels. The newly formed partnership with Norway under these circumstances could prove to be a real stroke of luck in the long term in order to make the energy supply in Germany sustainable.