German gas storage levels up slightly, situation remains 'tense' - regulator

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Germany's gas storage facilities were filled slightly overnight despite a major drop in Russian deliveries, the country's network regulator said on Saturday, but it confirmed the situation around gas supplies remained "tense".

Gas storage levels stood at 56.67% on Saturday, up slightly from the 56.29% on Friday, Germany's network regulator Bundesnetzagentur said in its daily gas supply report, reiterating its plea to save as much gas as possible.

Germany's government has urged companies and households to bring down gas consumption to a bare minimum, under pressure to ensure storage levels are adequate before the heating season starts in about 12 weeks.

Russia earlier this week limited supplies via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to around 40% of its capacity, a step Moscow blamed on the delay of equipment stranded in Canada for maintenance.

Germany, which depends on Russian gas for most of its consumption of the fuel, has questioned this explanation and said Russia's move was politically motivated to make it harder to fill up storage.

Bundesnetzagentur president Klaus Mueller late on Friday said that even if Germany's gas storage facilities were 100% filled it would only last for 2.5 months if Russia were to stop supplies completely.

(Reporting by Christoph Steitz; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Christina Fincher)