Netherlands to spend up to $548 mln to fill gas storage for next winter

The Dutch government expects to spend up to 520.5 million euros ($548.4 million) to sufficiently fill the gas storage at Bergermeer, one of Europe's largest, in the winter of 2023/2024.

Government-owned energy company EBN will be tasked to fill Bergermeer with 1.5 to 2 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas if other market participants fail to do so, and will not release the 0.7 bcm of gas its has stored there this year until at least the first quarter of 2024.

Bergermeer has a total storage capacity of 4.1 bcm.

Dutch gas storages are currently 86% full, according to government data, and need to be filled for at least 90% again by the start of next year.

The government also said it would explore options to build two new import facilities for liquefied natural gas (lng) from 2024.

The Netherlands earlier this year significantly increased its lng import capacity by building a new 8 bcm facility in the north of the country. This complemented the larger Gate Terminal in Rotterdam, now operating at 16 bcm capacity and which is planning a further 4 bcm expansion by 2025.