European Gas Refilling Lags, TTF Prices Hit €42 High

Data from Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE) shows EU overall natural gas storage at 61.2% as of last week, still around 7 percentage points below the five-year seasonal average. The lagging refill pace stems primarily from two factors: unplanned outages at Norwegian offshore gas fields creating a supply gap, and cooler-than-normal spring temperatures keeping consumption above seasonal norms. TTF natural gas futures climbed to €42/MWh this week, an eight-month high. European energy regulators warned that if summer refilling progress does not accelerate significantly, storage levels may struggle to reach the 90% target before winter arrives.