As Europe emerges from a mild winter with gas storage close to record levels, it must brace for another costly race to replenish its reserves on the international market.
European gas prices rallied in the run-up to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine begun almost exactly a year ago and they leapt to record highs when Russia subsequently cut supplies of relatively cheap pipeline gas.
Although European prices have eased to around 50 euros ($53) per megawatt hour (MWh) from last August’s peak of more than 340 euros, they remain above historic averages.