LONDON: Prompt prices for wholesale natural gas in Britain firmed on Thursday morning ahead of large-scale North Sea maintenance that is due to start on August 1 and reduce available supplies.
Gas prices for delivery on Friday traded at 39.30 pence per therm at 0820 GMT on Thursday, up 0.3 pence since their last close.
"The dominant driver for day-ahead prices is the start of maintenance at Norway's Troll field tomorrow, which we expect to result in a sharp drop in Langeled pipeline flows to Britain and impact prices accordingly on the upside," one gas trader said.
"Another bullish factor is lower British North Sea production flows into Teesside BP (terminal) ahead of maintenance at the Forties and CATS gas fields," he added.
Despite the lower flows, Britain's gas system was balanced on Thursday morning, with forecast demand of 165.3 million cubic metres (mcm) expected to be met by 165.8 mcm, according to data from National Grid.
On the demand side, gas consumption is expected to be around 6.5 percent below the seasonal norm on Thursday, and with meteorologists expecting average British temperatures to remain around 1-2 degrees Celsius above the seasonal norm of 16.4 degrees, this demand structure is unlikely to change in the coming days.
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