European gas prices rose above €100 per megawatt-hour on Wednesday for the first time since 2022, according to the source. The report links the rise to last-minute panic-buying to fill European gas reserves, along with supply pressures tied to the war in the Middle East.

At a summit in Luxembourg on Thursday, EU energy ministers acknowledged that Brussels and national capitals had few remaining options to contain price pressures. One senior European energy official, who was not named, said: "We've exhausted most of our short-term options. What's left is really crisis management."

Irish Energy Minister Darragh O'Brien, whose government holds the EU's rotating presidency, said: "The EU and member states don't have a magic wand to make the price increases go away." He said the focus was on moving to more sustainable measures.

Ministers have ruled out asking consumers and businesses to cut energy use as official policy. Finnish state secretary Mika Nykänen said he did not want to "limit people," and instead called for policies to "change behavior," such as subsidies for home energy efficiency. Polish Secretary of State for Energy Wojciech Wrochna said demand reduction could help in a difficult situation but does not solve the long term. Swedish Energy Minister Ebba Busch said high prices "will regulate demand by itself."

EU energy chief Dan Jørgensen gave up proposing demand reduction and focused on subsidies. He accepted that subsidies could include fossil fuels as well as clean alternatives, but said they should be "targeted and temporary." According to the report, governments have paid €18 billion in tax relief on fossil fuel products since the war started. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned national leaders against this approach, according to two EU diplomats cited in the report.

The report says von der Leyen rejected calls for an EU-wide windfall tax on oil and gas company profits, even as companies including Shell, TotalEnergies and Repsol have reported their biggest profits since 2022. Lithuanian Energy Minister Lukas Savickas said his concern was preventing member states from making very different national decisions.