FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Germany has sufficient gas in storage to cover demand over the current 2024/25 winter season, despite the end of Russian gas exports to central Europe on Jan. 1, storage operators' group INES said on Thursday.

"Despite the complete loss of gas transport through Ukraine, a gas shortage is no longer expected," INES said in a statement.

It added the target for storage caverns to be at least 30% full by Feb. 1 will be met.

Should medium-to-warm temperatures persist until the end of March, the filling levels, which are currently at 71%, would sink to 48% of total capacity, INES said.

In the case of extremely cold weather in the coming months, however, the inventories could hit 24% by the end of winter in March, INES said.

Boosting underground storage was one of Germany's main responses to being mostly cut off from Russian pipeline gas since the war in Ukraine began in 2022.

Since the start of this year, almost all other European Union countries have also stopped receiving Russian gas.

Germany has also increased its purchases of seaborne, liquefied natural gas (LNG), and cut consumption.

The country's storage facilities can hold 23 billion cubic metres, equivalent to over a quarter of annual national consumption last year.

Looking to the warmer summer months, the German storage facilities could be fully refilled for the 2025/26 season under any scenario, INES said, although it said financial incentives should be increased to encourage companies to book storage.

The 16 members of the lobby include the Astora company within the SEFE group, VNG Gasspeicher, Uniper, and RWE, and together represent around 25% of European Union gas caverns.

(Reporting by Vera Eckert, editing by Barbara Lewis)