As we enter winter, EU gas stocks are at their lowest level since 2013

Tensions on the global gas market could continue into 2027. In the meantime, Europe will enter winter with its lowest natural gas storage levels since 2013, the International Energy Agency (IEA) announced on Tuesday, November 3, in a new report. The European Union's gas stocks were only 75% full at the end of October, well below the minimum filling target of 80% set at European Union level.

This situation “increases the region's dependence on global supplies of liquefied natural gas to meet peak seasonal demand,” the IEA writes in its press release. It “could make the region particularly vulnerable if the coming winter is colder than expected, or in the event of technical incidents or other supply disruptions.”

The organization explains this situation in particular by the impact on imports of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz since the outbreak of the conflict in the Middle East by the United States and Israel at the end of February. All in a context of stocks already at a low level at the end of the previous winter. In the months that followed, buyers then counted, in vain, on a subsequent drop in prices, delaying their purchases intended to fill reserves.

With the Strait of Hormuz still largely closed during the summer months, injections into EU storage accelerated in August, September and October, but without catching up with the levels of previous years, the IEA continues. The total volume injected into storage during the filling season remained around 4% lower than the average of the last five years.

In Europe, the German government assured Monday that the country's gas supply remained secure for the coming winter, despite storage levels significantly below its regulatory targets.