European natural gas looks set to stay tight — and expensive — for years, according to recently published research.
One camp of analysts argues the European gas market will remain structurally undersupplied through 2027, with prices holding well above pre-crisis norms rather than normalizing after this winter.
The reasoning in the published research: storage refills have been inadequate, inventory levels are running persistently low, Qatari LNG is largely absent from Europe's supply mix, and Asian buyers continue to compete aggressively for the same cargoes. Together, these forces are expected to keep the market strained — especially during peak winter demand — with no clear path to relief on the horizon.
The takeaway from this thread of research is that elevated European gas prices aren't a short-term squeeze but a multi-year condition, with implications for industrial costs, power prices, and the broader inflation picture across the continent.