Erdgasspeicher Peissen GmbH is a 100% subsidiary of VNG Gasspeicher GmbH (VGS). It is the owner of the Katharina underground gas storage facility in Peissen, a district of Bernburg. VGS is responsible for marketing the storage capacity and operating the facility. Since 1 April 2026, VGS has also been the leaseholder of the storage capacity and acts as the contractual partner for customers.
Ground was broken at the site of UGS Katharina in Peissen, near Bernburg, Saxony-Anhalt; in 2011. Named after Russian empress Catherine the Great, the facility is to be expanded stage-by-stage until its completion in 2026. Upon its completion, UGS Katharina’s 12 caverns will have a working gas capacity of more than 600 million cubic metres – enough to supply over 300,000 households with natural gas for a full year. As in the case of the nearby UGS Bernburg, UGS Katharina’s caverns are being constructed by drilling and leaching underground mineral salt deposits down to a depth of 500 to 700 metres.
The UGS Katharina project incorporates cutting-edge technical concepts and combines the facility’s efficiency with the utmost in safety requirements. The figures presented below illustrate the dimensions of this extraordinary undertaking.
3
...are in operation at UGS Katharina. Together, they provide as much total output as four high-speed ICE 3 trains.
12
...are in the process of being leached, equipped, and commissioned at a depth of 500 to 700 metres at UGS Katharina. To put that distance in perspective, consider that Berlin’s Fernsehturm is “only” 368 metres tall.
24
...can be withdrawn from the storage facility every day. UGS Katharina’s daily withdrawal capacity thus corresponds to the amount of energy that could be generated by 100 million square metres of solar panels. That’s roughly the size of 14,000 football pitches.
37
...is the length of the connection line that was constructed to link up with the YAGAL pipeline. That makes it more than twice as long as Switzerland’s Gotthard Road Tunnel.
5000
...is the approximate weight of one section of the connection line – as much as a fully grown African elephant. The entire line is made up of more than 2,500 sections, giving it a total weight of over 12,500,000 kilograms.
25000
...can be supplied for an entire year with the amount of natural gas stored in a single cavern. UGS Katharina will eventually have 12 caverns at its disposal, corresponding to the annual needs of 300,000 households.