Europe Faced With Near-Empty Gas Stores Just as War Hits Supply

Europe is about to start the gas stockpiling season with key storage tanks depleted, meaning it will need to compete even more with Asian buyers to secure supplies, just as the Middle East conflict disrupts energy flows.

Dutch facilities are now just about 6% full, the lowest for this time of year in data going to late 2010, according to Gas Infrastructure Europe. In Germany, home to the region’s biggest sites, inventories are also much lower than usual, at about 22%.