European gas prices reportedly top €100 per MWh for first time since 2022

European wholesale natural gas prices exceeded €100 per megawatt-hour, their highest level since 2022, France 24 said in its October 28 report. The EU said it was not worried about supplies, but warned households of a “difficult” winter.

The €100 figure concerns wholesale gas traded in the market, not the tariffs households pay.

The energy crisis began in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and intensified in Europe after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Russia subsequently halted gas deliveries through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline in early September that year. On October 8, 2026, the European Commission said the EU was better prepared than in winter 2021–22 because it had more varied sources of gas, greater import capacity and lower demand.

A smaller storage buffer

France 24 also put EU gas storage at 72% full. That percentage was already recorded on October 1: Gas Infrastructure Europe, an association of gas infrastructure operators, gave that dated reading in its October 9 assessment.

Gas Infrastructure Europe’s comparison shows how much less gas was available in underground storage at the start of October than a year earlier.

Storage matters because operators can withdraw gas at short notice during cold spells or sudden jumps in demand. Additional deliveries of liquefied natural gas (LNG)—gas cooled into liquid for transport—cannot necessarily arrive quickly enough to meet those peaks, the association said.

Analysis

Import capacity and available gas are different things

The Commission’s October 8 assessment drew on the winter 2026–27 outlook from the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Gas (ENTSOG). It said EU infrastructure could handle more LNG imports to compensate for lower storage and meet winter demand. Market participants ultimately decide whether to import LNG or withdraw stored gas.

Gas Infrastructure Europe cautioned that having import facilities does not guarantee that cargoes will be available. Europe must compete for LNG on global markets. In ENTSOG’s scenarios, colder weather, constrained LNG supplies or other supply disruptions could require reductions in gas use or leave some demand unmet.

Under ENTSOG’s Reference Winter demand scenario with tight LNG supply, storage could fall to 13% by the end of March 2027, the association said. Keeping gas available late in the season matters both for cold spells and for refilling stores ahead of the following winter.

The Commission said it would monitor storage, supplies and prices throughout the winter with EU countries and market participants. It was also preparing for the end of Russian long-term LNG import contracts from the start of 2027 under the REPowerEU Gas Regulation.