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Natural gas has been fuelling industrial and economic growth across developed and developing countries. Its usage is set to increase as it is also being considered as a low-carbon fuel that can help make the transition to a no-to-low-carbon economy. Argus is your irreplaceable source of price information, news, expert analysis and fundamentals data for international natural gas markets.
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Browse the latest market moving news on the global natural gas industry.
Frist für erneuerbares Heizen verschoben
Frist für erneuerbares Heizen verschoben
Hamburg, 30 April (Argus) — Die Bundesregierung hat das Inkrafttreten der Pflicht zur Nutzung von mindestens 65 % erneuerbarer Energien in neu eingebauten Heizungssystemen verschoben. Gleichzeitig wird derzeit die vollständige Abschaffung der Regelung vorbereitet — indem das bisherige GEG durch ein neues Gebäudemodernisierungsgesetz ersetzt wird. Das Kabinett beschloss am 29. April eine Formulierungshilfe, mit der das Inkrafttreten von § 71 Absatz 1 des Gebäudeenergiegesetzes (GEG) vom 1. Juli auf den 1. November 2026 verschoben wird, heißt es aus Koalitionskreisen. Der Paragraf sieht vor, dass beim Austausch von Heizungsanlagen in Großstädten mit mehr als 100.000 Einwohnern spätestens ab Juli 2026 Heizsysteme eingesetzt werden müssen, die zu mindestens 65 % mit erneuerbaren Energien betrieben werden — etwa Wärmepumpen oder über den Einsatz von erneuerbaren Brennstoffen wie Biomethan oder biogenem Heizöl auf HVO Basis. Für kleinere Städte ist bislang eine Übergangsfrist bis Juli 2028 vorgesehen, während derer die Vorgabe ausschließlich für Neubauten in reinen Neugebieten gilt. Die jetzt geplante Anpassung soll noch vor dem 1. Juli von Bundestag und Bundesrat beschlossen werden. Dazu wurde die Formulierungshilfe in ein bereits laufendes Gesetzgebungsverfahren eingebracht, um ein rechtzeitiges Inkrafttreten sicherzustellen, so mit dem Vorgang vertraute Quellen. Das Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Energie (BMWE) erklärte, die Maßnahme diene einem "rechtssicheren Übergang" vom bestehenden GEG zum geplanten Gebäudemodernisierungsgesetz (GMG). Die 65-Prozent-Anforderung beim Heizungseinbau in Großstädten werde keine Geltung mehr erlangen, bevor sie mit Inkrafttreten des künftigen GMG aufgehoben werde, teilte das Ministerium mit. Das Gebäudemodernisierungsgesetz werde derzeit ressortübergreifend abschließend beraten und soll im Mai in das Kabinett eingebracht werden, erklärte das BMWE weiter. Am Ziel, das neue GMG zum 1. Juli 2026 in Kraft treten zu lassen, werde festgehalten. Da der Abschluss des Gesetzgebungsverfahrens bis dahin aber nicht gesichert sei, sei die vorgeschaltete Verschiebung der Frist aus dem GEG notwendig. Die Bundestagsfraktionen der CDU und SPD hatten am 24. Februar ein erstes Eckpunktepapier zum geplanten GMG vorgelegt. Dieses soll Verbraucher bei der Wahl ihres Heizungssystems weniger einschränken und eine sogenannte Bio-Treppe sowie eine Grüngasquote bzw. Grünölquote etablieren. Der Markt für Biomethan wartet nun schon seit Monaten auf die genaue Ausgestaltung dieses Gesetzes, da gerade im Wärmemarkt für Biomethan durch das GEG bisher ein großes Potenzial lag. Von Svea Winter Senden Sie Kommentare und fordern Sie weitere Informationen an feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . Alle Rechte vorbehalten.
Hungary on track for EU, national gas storage targets
Hungary on track for EU, national gas storage targets
London, 29 April (Argus) — Hungary is on track to exceed the EU gas storage obligation and to meet its national filling requirements this year, even if injections only match last year's pace. Hungary has a derogation from the EU's storage rules that reduces its filling target to 35pc of five-year average demand instead of 90pc of working gas capacity, which trims its mandatory storage obligation to around 35TWh, or roughly 51pc of capacity, for some point between 1 October and 1 December. This means that Hungarian inventories will need to rise by under 11.5TWh to meet the EU filling obligations. Hungarian stocks of 23.7TWh as of Tuesday morning were at 35pc of capacity, below 26.1TWh on the same day a year earlier ( see Hungarian stocks graph ). Assuming that the average injection rate equals last year's 136 GWh/d over the remaining 160 days of the injection season, Hungarian stocks would reach 45.5TWh by 1 October. This would be 4.3TWh lower than a year earlier, but 10.5TWh above the EU's minimum requirement for this year. National storage obligations may accelerate stockbuilding earlier in the injection season by setting earlier mandatory deadlines. Hungarian law obliges different market participants to build storage reserves in domestic facilities. Hungarian gas system operator FGSZ must ensure that 2.1TWh of gas is injected into domestic storage by 1 July. Universal service provider state-owned utility MVM, which supplies households, must hold 19.8TWh in Hungarian storages by 1 October. And trading firms active on the domestic market must hold storage volumes equal to 2pc of their contracted supply for the 2026–27 gas year. Trading firms must notify Hungarian energy regulator Mekh of how they will comply with this storage obligation by 1 May. Failure to comply may result in a procedural fine or criminal liability, making national regulations stricter than EU legislation. Hungarian exports to Ukraine totalled 15.4TWh in May-September 2025, but flows towards Ukraine have been low in recent months. If this volume remains in the domestic market and is directed entirely to storage, end-of-season stocks could exceed 60TWh by 1 October, representing about 90pc of technical capacity and aligning with the EU's baseline storage target. This suggests that demand from neighbouring markets could have a significant impact on Hungarian stockbuilding this summer. Inverse storage demand returns An inverted forward curve and changing market conditions have made gas loan services attractive, a market participant told Argus. State-owned storage operator HGS offered inverse storage services — under which market participants can use operator-owned gas for a fee, with volumes to be returned later during the agreed period — for October 2026–September 2027 in March, the operator told Argus . The full 1.2TWh on offer was booked, representing the maximum volume permitted under the operator's licence, HGS said. This was the first inverse auction since summer 2025, because backwardation in the forward curve — with prompt prices at a premium to futures — is a precondition for the product to be economically attractive, HGS said. Only operators with regulatory approval may provide the inverse storage service, using their own working gas volumes reclassified from cushion gas. A positive summer-winter spread encouraged the use of these services this spring. "We used this option in Hungary and Slovakia," a market participant told Argus. Slovak gas storage operator Nafta offered 2TWh of inverse storage capacity for various delivery periods between 2026 and 2029 in March and April. No information on the auction results or fees is publicly available, according to a market participant. By Victoria Dovgal Hungarian gas stocks TWh Hexum vs HGS stocks TWh Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
German operators still struggle to sell gas storage
German operators still struggle to sell gas storage
London, 24 April (Argus) — German gas storage capacity uptake continued to slow down this week, with operators failing to allocate any of the storage space put on offer. German storage operator Sefe held an auction for 3TWh of storage space at its Rehden site on 22 April. None of the capacity was allocated, most likely because prices for gas delivery over the summer months — including April — continued to trade above the winter 2026-27 price the day before the auction, providing no economic incentive to book space. And fellow operator OMV held two auctions for a combined 375GWh for space at its Etzel site, which connects to the THE and TTF market areas, on 22 April. OMV declined to comment on the outcome, but transparency data show that the auctions were unsuccessful. This week's unsuccessful auctions mark a significant slowdown in bookings, carried over from last week when only 110GWh of 5.02TWh marketed were allocated . In any case, German sites are 70pc booked for the upcoming storage year, which means that Germany can technically reach its fill level target by the start of November without any more space allocated. Operator VNG Gasspeicher will auction off 2TWh of space for its Trading BOB product — which stores gas physically in the Katharina site. The auction will take place on any date between 27 April and 3 July. Successful bidders will be able access the contracted space at the site two days after the auction until 31 March 2027. Meanwhile, operator Storengy will offer a Virtual GiS product of up to 53.28GWh on 28 April. The product is based on loaned gas supplied by Storengy and can be fixed in up to three tranches of 17.76GWh each. It operates across three phases — a withdrawal-only phase in November, a non-use phase in December 2026-April 2027, and a final free-use phase running until 1 July 2027. During the final phase, customers must reinject and return the loaned gas to Storengy. By Alejandro Moreano Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Europe faces challenging gas restocking season
Europe faces challenging gas restocking season
London, 16 April (Argus) — Europe faces its toughest gas injection season since 2022, because stocks are at a four-year low and the continent must secure LNG cargoes at a time of tightened global supply. Underground inventories across the EU were at just 314TWh on 1 April, equivalent to 27.7pc of capacity. This was down from 387TWh a year earlier and well below the three-year average of 561TWh for the date. Bridging the 73TWh year-on-year deficit is equivalent to the bloc securing an additional 4.7mn t of LNG — or roughly 65 standard-sized cargoes. But securing supply to fill storage will be harder this year because the Middle East conflict has tightened the global LNG market considerably. Europe will be unable to import LNG from Qatar or the UAE — which made up about 7pc of its LNG supply in 2025 — while the strait of Hormuz remains closed. And European buyers may have to compete for Atlantic basin cargoes with Asian buyers, some of which are already scrambling to secure replacement cargoes for lost Mideast Gulf supply ahead of their peak cooling demand season. Given these challenges, the European Commission has encouraged member states to make use of the flexibility built into the EU storage regulation and aim to have 80pc of capacity filled between 1 October and 1 December instead of the headline 90pc target. The legislation also permits an additional 10-percentage point deviation under persistent unfavourable market conditions or technical constraints. Some countries, such as Austria and Latvia, are granted larger derogations, for instance because their storage capacity exceeds domestic consumption. EU member states already made use of these derogations and additional flexibility under the regulation last year. Stocks peaked at 949TWh on 13 October, equivalent to 83.2pc of capacity. If countries that targeted 90pc last year adjust their 2026 requirement to 80pc, and once existing derogations are factored in, the effective EU-wide target would drop to 68.5pc, compared with 71.2pc last year. But even in this case, the EU would need to inject 469TWh this summer, up from 425TWh last year — a difference equivalent to 39 LNG cargoes. And even then, national obligations, security of supply considerations and the level of national regulatory intervention may have a greater impact than compliance with the EU's storage law. Inverted market signals Unfavourable summer-winter price spreads have discouraged storage capacity bookings, further complicating the task of refilling storage sites. Differing levels of state intervention will mean uneven filling rates across the bloc this summer. Summer 2026 contracts at the Dutch, German, Italian and French hubs jumped above corresponding winter 2026-27 contracts at the start of March just after the Middle East war broke out. By the time the summer 2026 contract expired at the end of March, only the German summer price had slipped back to a discount to the front winter. Germany has the EU's largest working gas capacity at 245TWh — 22pc of the bloc's total. German sites ended the winter at only 21pc of capacity, the lowest for any year since 2018. Argus estimates that firms had booked roughly 63pc of German storage capacity for April 2026-March 2027 by the start of April. Near-curve prices will need to maintain a discount to the front-winter contract to spur further bookings and injections, if Germany is to reach its national fill target of 70pc. The German energy ministry has told Argus repeatedly that it will leave storage filling to the market, arguing that state intervention would pass on huge costs to consumers. Other EU countries have instead opted to offer incentives to ensure inventories are replenished. Italy, the EU's second-largest capacity holder with 203TWh, has announced an incentive mechanism aimed at offsetting the unfavourable market conditions, consisting of bonus payments to firms based on their end-of-October stocks. And the Netherlands — with a technical capacity of 144TWh — has strengthened its state backstop for this injection season. State-owned EBN is empowered to fill up to 80TWh, a much higher mandate than the 25TWh last summer. France's regulated storage system should also ensure sites are filled regardless of summer-winter spreads. Firms have contractual obligations to fill booked capacity, and all capacity has been booked thanks to reserve costs being set at zero for 2026-27 capacity, with storage operators compensated through transmission tariffs. France has 126TWh of technical storage capacity. Countries in central and eastern Europe may also be able to only partly rebuild gas stocks this summer. But a higher share of long-term pipeline deliveries and domestic supply within their supply mix could provide a more stable injection profile than in markets with heavier LNG exposure. Stocks in Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia were at a combined 102TWh on 1 April, 21.4TWh lower than a year earlier and the lowest for the day since 2022. This equated to 29pc of capacity, higher than the EU average ( see CEE stocks graph ) . By Hannah McMichael and Victoria Dovgal EU stocks 2026 vs 2025 vs 2022 TWh CEE stocks 2026 vs 2025 vs 2022 TWh EU natural gas inventories TWh Storage spreads at major EU hubs €/MWh Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
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