European wholesale gas prices fell on 2 November 2026 as forecasts suggested easing cold weather could reduce pressure on depleted winter stocks, Asharq Al-Awsat reported, citing market data and analysts.
The Dutch front-month contract at the Title Transfer Facility hub dropped €3.86 to €100.09 per megawatt hour by 09:14 GMT, according to ICE exchange figures cited by the newspaper.
Britain’s equivalent contract fell 9.19 pence to 248.41 pence per therm. Analysts at Mind Energy expected prices to retreat despite what they described as Europe’s lowest storage levels in a decade and reduced supplies.
European storage facilities were 74.6% full on 31 October, according to Gas Infrastructure Europe figures cited by Asharq Al-Awsat. Germany, which has Europe’s largest storage capacity, stood at about 61%.
German storage association Initiative Energien Speichern said on 1 November that statutory filling requirements had not been achieved across all facilities. It called for stronger measures to prepare for winter.
The immediate weather outlook offered some relief. Georg Mueller, a meteorologist at financial data provider LSEG, forecast colder-than-normal, mostly dry conditions across continental Europe and Britain during the week beginning 2 November.
Temperatures and rainfall were expected to return towards normal by the following weekend, according to his forecast as reported by Asharq Al-Awsat. The expected change could limit withdrawals from storage.
ING analysts warned that a tight winter supply balance would leave prices volatile and unusually sensitive to weather, the newspaper reported.
Diplomatic contacts in the Middle East also weighed on the market. Engie EnergyScan analysts linked some of the decline to Iranian-Qatari talks seeking an end to the US-Israeli war on Iran, according to Asharq Al-Awsat.
The discussions had already helped push oil prices lower, the analysts said. Disruption to Middle Eastern liquefied natural gas supplies has increased competition between European and Asian buyers for available cargoes.
Despite the decline, gas contracts remained around levels last seen during the 2022 energy crisis, according to the newspaper.
The cost of replacing disrupted supplies was already rising before the latest session. In a separate report published ahead of 2 November, Reuters cited Rystad Energy estimates that global LNG portfolio costs would reach $256 billion in 2026, 18% above its pre-war estimate.
Rystad expected Europe’s LNG bill to rise by at least $12 billion, or 18%, even with demand falling by 24 million tonnes, Reuters reported.
Norwegian pipeline deliveries were another near-term factor. Exports stood at about 325 million cubic metres a day amid outages, according to Gassco figures cited by Asharq Al-Awsat.
Those flows were expected to improve from 3 November as the outages eased, the newspaper reported.
