European natural gas remains near highest levels since 2022 as storage deficit deepens

European natural gas is having a moment nobody asked for. Dutch TTF front-month futures peaked at €84/MWh in early-to-mid September 2026, the highest price point since December 2022, and traders have good reason to be nervous heading into winter. The core problem is storage. EU gas inventories sit at roughly 68% full as of mid-September 2026, about 16 percentage points below the five-year seasonal average of around 84%. In absolute terms, that works out to approximately 74.5 billion cubic meters, which is about 14 billion cubic meters less than the same point last year and the lowest storage volume since 2013. How Europe got here Two compounding forces drove the shortfall. First, geopolitical tensions linked to the US-Iran conflict disrupted LNG flows through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint for Qatari LNG shipments heading toward European regasification terminals. Qatar is one of Europe’s key flexible suppliers, so any restriction there hits storage replenishment directly. Second, routine but poorly timed maintenance work in Norway reduced pipeline flows during a period when Europe could least afford it. Norway is Europe’s single largest pipeline gas supplier, so even t...