Are They Kidding?

I don't know if folks remember that Great Britain came within six hours of literally running out of natural gas this past winter -- had the country run out of natural gas during that freezing spell, it would have been devastating.

It looks like Germany and France may be facing the same thing this winter. I don't know about anyone else, but I find this incredible, considering the relative glut of natural gas in this country.

Reuters is reporting:

Germany's largest gas grid company, Open Grid Europe, warned customers on Friday that Europe could face a gas supply crunch this winter if storage sites are not filled more quickly.

The German grid operator, which makes money from traders transporting storage gas through its pipelines, echoed a warning made by its French counterpart last week. "If an extremely cold snap then occurs again (...) one cannot rule out the possibility of supply restrictions occurring," Open Grid Europe said in a letter to customers.

Gas storage levels across Europe are currently around 20 percent below the same time last year, according to Gas Infrastructure Europe data, following a drawn-out cold winter which depleted Europe's storage tanks.

Open Grid Europe was last year sold by Germany's largest utility E.ON to a consortium led by Australian bank Macquarie.

Its French counterpart, GRTgaz gave a similar warning last week, saying a winter gas supply problem would affect consumers across Europe. The French grid operator is majority owned by utility GDF Suez.

Analysts blew off the warnings.