Europe's Gas Storage Emergency: Reading the Numbers

European gas storage levels crisis March 2026

To understand Europe's current energy predicament, it helps to know how gas storage works. Underground gas facilities across Europe are filled during the spring and summer months — when demand for heating is low and gas is relatively cheap — and then gradually drawn down over the autumn and winter as temperatures drop and demand rises.

The system acts as a buffer, smoothing out the seasonal imbalance between supply and demand. This buffer is now dangerously thin.

As of March 24, overall EU gas storage stood at just 28. 4% of capacity — roughly 325 terawatt-hours.

That figure is five percentage points lower than the same date last year and significantly below the five-year seasonal average. The Netherlands is the most extreme case: at just 6% capacity, Dutch storage holds less than a third of what it contained at this point in 2025.

Germany, at 22. 3%, and France, at 22.

1%, are better placed but still deeply below comfortable levels. The gravity of the situation has been spelled out with unusual bluntness by investment analysts.

Goldman Sachs raised its Q2 2026 TTF forecast to €72 per megawatt-hour, while SEB analyst Ole Hvalbye has warned that in a scenario where the Strait of Hormuz remains partially closed for three months, front-month TTF could reach between €115 and €155 per megawatt-hour. To put these numbers in context, prices above €100 per megawatt-hour were considered extreme even during the worst of the 2022 energy crisis.

The EU Commission's response has been to write formally to all energy ministers urging them to begin storage refilling without delay and to consider moderating household and industrial energy demand as a complementary measure.