European natural-gas prices rose to €73.7 per megawatt-hour on Tuesday, hovering at their highest level in more than three and a half years, as LNG shipments from the Persian Gulf remained severely disrupted amid heightened US-Iran tensions. Fighting between the two countries has complicated efforts to restore traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, while Iran has warned that energy infrastructure across the region, including US oil and gas facilities, could face further attacks. Qatar has largely suspended LNG shipments and extended force majeure on cargoes bound for European and Asian markets through the autumn. The disruption has slowed European storage injections, leaving facilities about 66% full, below the seasonal average, as the heating season approaches. The existing market outlook remains unusually tight: storage was previously recorded at 66.6% full versus an 80% seasonal average, the lowest level for that point in the year since 2009. Wood Mackenzie said roughly one-fifth of global LNG supply had been effectively removed from the market and expects inventories to end summer at 73% and winter at 21%.