UK GAS-Prices up on lower Norway flows, higher demand

LONDON: British wholesale gas prices were mostly higher on Friday morning, on lower flows from Norway and as low wind output supported gas-for-power demand.

The day-ahead contract was up 0.15 pence at 13.40 pence per therm by 0824 GMT.

Gas for immediate delivery was 0.55 pence higher at 13.30 p/therm.

Wind output remains quite weak which should support gas-for-power demand.

Peak wind generation is forecast at 4.6 gigawatts (GW) on Friday and 6.8 GW on Saturday, out of a total metered capacity of around 18 GW, Elexon data shows.

Flows through the Langeled pipeline from Norway are reduced to around 15 million cubic metres (mcm).

Despite this, the system was oversupplied by around 7 mcm, with demand forecast at 152 mcm and flows at 159 mcm/day, National Grid data showed.

Two LNG arrivals into South Hook terminal over the coming days on could boost send-out short term, exacerbating oversupply, Refinitiv analysts said.

August gas was down 0.20 pence at 13.50 p/therm.

Strong withdrawals from European storage sites at which Gazprom holds capacity show that Gazprom is relying more heavily on storage to meet customer requests during pipeline maintenance compared to previous years, consultancy Energy Aspects said.

"We expect Europe's year-on-year storage surplus to be around 4.9 billion cubic metres by Aug. 1. But the narrowing y/y storage surplus should not support TTF prices given that the weak stockbuild is the result of Gazprom reconfiguring flows," the analysts said.

The August gas price at the Dutch TTF hub inched down by 0.04 euro to 5.01 euros per megawatt hour.

The benchmark Dec-20 EU carbon contract was down 0.85 euro at 26.48 euros a tonne.