Gas covered around a quarter of Germany’s primary energy use in 2019, making it the country’s second most important energy source. Germany is among the world’s biggest natural gas importers and around 94 percent of its gas consumption is met by imports, according to the BGR. In 2018, the country produced 7 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas, but according to geologists, the fields are nearing depletion. Domestic natural gas production has been falling since 2004 and will likely cease altogether in the course of the 2020s. Strict regulations make substantial use of fracking highly unlikely for now.

Germany imported 5,419 petajoules (PJ) of natural gas in 2019, according to the Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control (BAFA). This is an increase of 22 percent over the previous year. The country exported 2,821 PJ in 2019. Due to data privacy regulations, BAFA stopped publishing import volumes by country in 2016. However, the economy ministry says that Russia, Norway and the Netherlands continue to supply “large amounts.” In 2015, 35 percent of gas imports came from Russia, 34 percent from Norway and 29 percent from the Netherlands. In July 2018, an economy ministry spokesperson put Russia’s share in German natural gas imports at “about 40 percent.”

Gas is imported to Germany exclusively by using pipelines. The construction of Gazprom’s contentious Russian-German Baltic Sea pipeline project Nord Stream 2 is underway, but has faced intense opposition from Germany’s European partners and the United States. Sanctions have halted progress for months, but by mid-2020 construction was in the final stretch [Also read the factsheet Gas pipeline Nord Stream 2 links Germany to Russia, but splits Europe]

Germany currently has no infrastructure for the direct import of liquefied natural gas (LNG). However, the country is planning to set up an LNG infrastructure and can currently be supplied via terminals in neighbouring countries, where the liquid is regasified and pushed into the natural gas pipeline infrastructure.

What impact will the Energiewende have on gas imports?

Currently, most of the gas is used in the industrial sector (e.g. for power and heat supply, or in chemical processes), followed by private households (mostly heating), public power and heating supply, manufacturing and trade. Natural gas consumption in transport is marginal. The lion's share of gas is burned to produce heat, and only a fraction is used to produce electricity.

Many experts see natural gas as a bridge to a low-carbon economy because it produces much less CO₂ emissions when combusted than either coal or oil. However, fugitive emissions, like the leakage of methane during production and transportation, need to be taken into account to evaluate total lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions. Gas complements fluctuating power supply from renewables rather well, because modern gas-fired power stations (unlike coal) can switch from idle to full output within minutes if necessary.

The German government has said that the planned exit from nuclear and coal-fired power generation means that mid-term gas demand will increase. However, many analysts doubt that total natural gas demand will rise during the energy transition as efficiency increases and renewables, storage and ultimately renewables-based gases (such as green hydrogen) will cover more and more of the energy needs across Europe. Projections for future EU and German gas demand vary widely, many foreseeing a decrease.

Power-to-gas as a way of converting electrical energy into methane or hydrogen for direct use or the long-term storage of renewable power have only been tested in pilot projects and have yet to be used on a larger scale. The federal government strongly bets on green hydrogen in its quest for climate neutrality, and says much of it will have to be imported. In a 2018 analysis, think tanks Agora Energiewende and Agora Verkehrswende also said that Germany would need the well-directed use of power-based synthetic fuels, including gas, in connection with a phase-out of conventional oil and natural gas to reach its long-term climate targets. The think tanks agree that large amounts must be imported.