The price hike follows a broader energy market rally that pushed Brent crude to a five-month high of $114 per barrel. Markets remain on edge as potential Houthi activity near Saudi Arabian facilities compounds existing concerns regarding the reliability of global energy infrastructure. According to ING commodities strategists Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey, the market expects a prolonged absence of Qatari LNG flows throughout the winter, keeping prices hypersensitive to regional geopolitical shifts.
Domestic buffers provide little relief as storage levels fall behind historical norms. Gas Infrastructure Europe reports that EU storage sites held 74.62% of their capacity as of October 22, trailing the five-year average of 86% by more than 10 percentage points. With storage sites appearing to have peaked, the continent faces a precarious start to the colder months, struggling to balance supply deficits while navigating heightened global volatility.
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