European Gas at Four-Year High on Winter Supply Fears

A facts-only brief, written by a local AI model from this article in The Wall Street Journal, October 26, 2026. It may contain mistakes, and it is not the article: the full story is at wsj.com.

European natural-gas prices surpassed 97 euros per megawatt-hour for the first time since late 2022, driven by colder weather and ongoing supply disruptions linked to the Iran conflict. The Dutch TTF front-month contract, which serves as the regional benchmark, rose 3.1% to 96.71 euros in early Monday trading after briefly hitting 97.50 euros. These levels mark the highest prices since late December 2022, though they remain below the peaks of the 2022 energy crisis.

Background

• Shipping disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, a route that previously handled approximately 20% of global liquefied natural gas, have reduced exports from Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
• ANZ analysts noted that traders are drawing down winter gas inventories, with EU storage levels at 74.6% as of Sunday.
• Gas Infrastructure Europe reported that inventories recorded their first net decline last Tuesday, while ANZ analysts projected the LNG import shortfall to reach 11% by the end of the month.

Read the full article at wsj.com

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