EU Gas Prices Soar Amid Winter Storage Deficits and ECB Warnings

The European Union's natural gas prices have resumed their upward march, rising by 2.7% to around 82.00 euros per megawatt-hour (MWh) on Wednesday.

This follows a brief pause in the previous session, as winter storage deficits and fresh warnings from European Central Bank policymakers kept energy bourses on high alert.

The low storage reserves across the EU are currently at roughly 68% of capacity, trailing the five-year seasonal average by approximately 16 percentage points.

This leaves continental energy buffers thin heading into autumn, with European utilities forced to refill reserves at near-record prices due to Persian Gulf transit disruptions severely restricting liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.