Peissen Natural Gas Storage Facility

16 September 2011 saw first ground broken at the site of the Katharina underground storage facility (USF Katharina) at a ceremony attended by GAZPROM management committee member Oleg Aksyutin, VNG executive board chairman Dr Karsten Heuchert, GAZPROM Germania GmbH managing directors Vyacheslav Krupenkov and Andrey Biryulin, and the minister-president of Saxony-Anhalt, Dr Rainer Haseloff. The Katharina underground storage facility is named after Russian Empress Catherine II, born Sophia Augusta Frederica, Princess of Anhalt-Zerbst 282 years ago.

This project has been planned, developed, and operated by Erdgasspeicher Peissen GmbH, a joint venture of GAZPROM Germania and VNG. Katharina is a cavern storage facility that will be put into operation in phases by 2024. When fully operational, it will have a total working gas volume of 600 Mm³. GAZPROM Germania GmbH and VNG-Verbundnetz AG have invested a total of EUR 367 million in the storage project.

Investment process

2012 and 2012: Caverns to be acquired from VNG and operated via VNG’s neighbouring Bernburg USF surface facility 

2011 to 2024: Ten caverns in the Bernburg anticline rock sale deposit to be leached, equipped, and commissioned to provide a total storage capacity of 586 Mm³ of natural gas  

2011 to 2014: Construction of a surface facility with maximum injection and withdrawal rates of 8-12 Mm³ a day

2012 to 2014: Construction of a 37 km connection line to the JAGAL pipeline

The Katharina underground storage facility will create a number of jobs in the region. The Katharina underground storage facility will create new jobs in the region, with a number of building contracts awarded to local companies to strengthen Saxony-Anhalt’s local economy.