Europe’s Gas Storage Crunch Deepens Ahead of Heating Season
Oracle’s $165 Billion Data Center Plan Hits a Gas Pipeline Delay President Claudia Sheinbaum said hydraulic… What I Cover Irina Slav has been writing about global energy markets since 2007, covering the oil and gas industry, energy security, commodities, and the… With less than three full months left until the start of heating season in much of Europe, the issue of gas inventories is becoming increasingly pressing.
Current inventory levels are at the lowest in 17 years, and supply available for purchase is tighter than it was back in 2022.
Yet Europe needs to start buying gas now—or risk shortages.
The energy import dependence of most of Europe has been in the spotlight for the past four years.
The sanction barrage against Russia led the European Union—and Germany specifically, as Russia’s biggest gas client—to switch from one dependence to another, leaning heavily on U.S.
Yet European gas buyers were also buying Qatari liquefied gas, and now most of that is gone, and nobody really knows when it is coming back.
The LNG squeeze and the uncertainty about supply prospects have, of course, had a direct and rather painful effect on prices.
Europeans are competing with Asian gas buyers for a limited volume of LNG—and that volume is about to become even more limited when the EU’s latest gas sanctions against Russia come into effect from January next year, banning all purchases of Russian liquefied gas, after this year EU purchases of Russian LNG hit an all-time high.
Belgium, the seat of EU executive and legislative power, ironicallysourcedall of its gas from Russia last month.
There is a lot of talk about new LNG export capacity coming on stream in the United States over the next year or two.
This capacity, some industry observers argue, would lead to a major drop in LNG prices.
However, even if this does pan out, it will not pan out soon enough for Europe.
| Product | Price | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Brent Crude | $102.14/bbl | +0.34% |
| WTI Crude | $96.90/bbl | +0.21% |
| EN590 Diesel | $846/MT | +0.18% |
| Jet Fuel A-1 | $1090/MT | +0.55% |
| Mazut M100 | $450/MT | -0.15% |
| Bitumen 60/70 | $470/MT | +0.08% |
| Sulphur Gran 99.5% | $470/MT | -0.44% |
| Urea 46% Gran | $650/MT | +1.12% |
| NPK 16-16-16 | $460/MT | -0.28% |
| Nat Gas TTF | $15.42/MMBtu | +0.92% |
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