Uniper expects gas prices to remain at around €50 to €60 per megawatt hour as long as the Strait of Hormuz is closed to shipping, the CEO of Germany's biggest gas importer said.
Prices would need to fall to ensure German gas storage facilities hit 70 per cent target levels by November, Michael Lewis told journalists after presenting Uniper's first-half results.
German gas caverns were 48 per cent full as of August 9, down from 64 per cent a year ago and below the 59 per cent European Union average, raising fears that levels might not be high enough for a harsh winter.
"These high prices are bad for our customers, bad for the industry and bad for our wealth. That is why we need a solution," Lewis said on Tuesday, highlighting the challenges facing the world's third-largest economy and Europe as a whole.
The Iran war caused gas prices to spike, meaning the fuel is sold rather than stored. Gas caverns are usually filled during the summer when prices are normally lower, but the conflict between the United States and Iran has reversed this trend.
Efforts to reopen the strait, which is key to the transport of liquefied natural gas, were complicated on Monday after US President Donald Trump responded to Iran's conditions for a peace deal with his own demands.
(Reporting by Christoph Steitz, Editing by Miranda Murray and Alexander Smith)
