The EU now mandates that storage must be 90% full by 1 November each year
Europe’s appetite for LNG to ease
Ample stocks and a soft demand outlook will limit how much LNG Europe can import this year
Europe’s role in the global LNG markets appears to be shifting once again. The energy crises of recent years saw the bloc become the premium marginal purchaser of LNG, as Europe desperately sought to break its energy dependence on Russia following the invasion of Ukraine. But two consecutive mild winters, high storage levels and a muted economic outlook mean European LNG demand looks relatively weak this summer and might be poised to decline as the region continues with its aggressive buildout of renewables and adoption of energy-saving measures in the coming years. Europe is poised to enter the summer months with record gas inventories for this time of year. Data from storage operator assoc
Also in this section
17 February 2026
The 25th WPC Energy Congress, taking place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from 26–30 April 2026, will bring together leaders from the political, industrial, financial and technology sectors under the unifying theme “Pathways to an Energy Future for All”
17 February 2026
Siemens Energy has been active in the Kingdom for nearly a century, evolving over that time from a project-based foreign supplier to a locally operating multi-national company with its own domestic supply chain and workforce
17 February 2026
Eni’s chief operating officer for global natural resources, Guido Brusco, takes stock of the company’s key achievements over the past year, and what differentiates its strategy from those of its peers in the LNG sector and beyond
16 February 2026
As the third wave of global LNG arrives, Wood Mackenzie’s director for Europe gas and LNG, Tom Marzec-Manser, discusses with Petroleum Economist the outlook for Europe’s gas market in 2026
