Planned maintenance at Norwegian plant drives up European gas prices — Bloomberg

Norwegian gas exports to Europe dropped due to a new round of scheduled maintenance, pushing up natural gas prices in Europe.

The prices rose 1.2% on Thursday, June 5, as Norway's Kollsnes processing plant began seasonal maintenance. Last year, the Scandinavian country accounted for nearly a third of EU gas imports.

European traders remain focused on securing gas supplies to replenish depleted inventories, while monitoring US tariff policies. Weak LNG demand in China is freeing up additional cargoes for Europe, providing some relief to summer supply concerns.

According to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Patricio Alvarez, growing LNG flows into European networks are helping to close the region's significant annual storage gap. Alvarez expects European gas prices to hover around $40 per megawatt-hour this year. He added that relaxed storage replenishment targets, weak domestic demand in Europe, and subdued LNG imports by China help ease supply pressures.