European Gas Futures Plunge as Nations Rush to Fill Up Storage

European natural gas prices plunged the most since April after Germany said its gas stores are filling up faster than planned ahead of winter.

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(Bloomberg) — European natural gas prices plunged the most since April after Germany said its gas stores are filling up faster than planned ahead of winter.  

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Benchmark Dutch front-month futures fell as much as 16% to 286 euros per megawatt-hour, reversing last week’s jump of almost 40%. 

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In Germany, gas storage facilities are filling up fast, according to Economy Minister Robert Habeck. The region’s biggest economy is set to meet an October target of 85% full already next month, he said in a statement on Sunday. 

Germany to Reach October Gas-Storage Target Already Next Month

To be sure, the supply situation remains very fragile as Europe is grappling with its worst energy crisis in decades. Lower Russian flows, outages in Norway and increasing competition for LNG supplies are all bullish factors that won’t go away anytime soon. 

Governments are also putting in place measures to ease the burden, setting aside some 280 billion euros, but that might not be enough. The Czech Republic, which holds the European Union’s rotating presidency, will call an extraordinary meeting of energy ministers to discuss bloc-wide solutions.

Concerns are also mounting that Russia won’t bring its key Nord Stream pipeline back after a three-day maintenance starting on Aug. 31. 

Dutch futures for next month fell 12% to 297 euros per megawatt-hour at 8:20 a.m. in Amsterdam.