European natural-gas prices remained well supported, and ING said “the market and [EU] member countries are becoming increasingly concerned about the task of refilling storage through the injection season and the fact that the forward curve provides no incentive to store gas for next winter.

The European Union is considering extending its mandatory natural gas storage targets for member states beyond 2025 to ensure sufficient stockpiles for future winters.

Colder weather across parts of Europe and the U.S. has also pushed up demand in recent days, boosting prices. Gas storage in the European Union is currently 66% full--a level still considered comfortable for the winter but that could pose challenges during the summer injection season.

Russia halted gas flows through Ukraine at the start of the month, while cold weather is depleting European storage at the fastest pace since the 2022 energy crisis. Some content could not load.

European natural-gas prices rose more than 3%, a jump largely attributed to an outage at the U.S. Freeport LNG facility and news that Germany might subsidize storage refills this summer to ensure the country reaches its target.