Europe's Gas Stockpiles Hit Record Lows Amid Competition and High Prices

Europe's natural gas stockpiles are at record seasonal lows, leaving businesses with little incentive to replenish fuel due to high prices and intense competition for global LNG supplies.

As of August 10th, storage facilities in the region were only at about 59% capacity, the lowest level at this time of year since data began being recorded in 2009, according to Bloomberg. Reuters previously reported that by early August, EU gas inventories were at less than 58%, 12 percentage points lower than the same period last year and the lowest seasonal level since at least 2011.

Anders Opedal, CEO of Equinor, Europe's largest gas supplier, said in July that the region was unlikely to get its gas inventories above 80% before winter. He argued that competition with Asian customers was making it more difficult to replenish reserves.

The US is currently Europe's largest source of LNG, and global LNG supply is expected to increase by over 7%, or 42 billion cubic meters, this year due to new projects in the US. However, this additional supply is not yet fast enough to offset the disruptions, forcing Europe to compete more fiercely for each shipment.