LONDON: Prompt natural gas prices in Britain rose on Wednesday morning as lower supplies from Norway led to an undersupplied system.
Prices for within-day delivery were trading at 53.70 pence per therm at 0854 GMT, up 1.10 pence since their last settlement. Prices for delivery on Thursday were up 0.2 pence at 52.75 pence per therm.
With supply flows at about 181 million cubic metres (mcm) per day on Wednesday and demand expected to be about 219 mcm, the system was 38 mcm undersupplied, National Grid data showed.
Norwegian gas exports to Britain will be down by 10.8 mcm on Wednesday due to turbine problems at entry point SEGAL, gas system operator Gassco said in a market message.
The outage, which started at 1401 GMT on Tuesday, is expected to last 39 hours.
Meanwhile, almost half of Britain's nuclear capacity is offline, increasing demand for gas from gas-fired power stations.
Wind power output in Britain also is set to slump to around 2,000-3,000 megawatts (MW) on Wednesday and Thursday, down from over 4,800 MW earlier this week.
Further along the curve, the November gas contract was 0.45 pence higher at 54.15 pence per therm while the December contract gained 0.40 pence to 56.50 pence.
Traders said curve prices could be influenced this week by gas talks between Russia, Ukraine and the European Commission.
The trilateral talks are aimed at resolving a long-running dispute over Ukraine's unpaid gas bills, which prompted Moscow to cut off supplies to Kiev in June.
Russia meets 30 percent of Europe's natural gas demand and half of that gas transits to the EU through Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin last week warned that Ukraine may start siphoning Russian gas destined for Europe if no solution to the crisis is found.
In Britain's power market, prices for delivery on Thursday fell 1 pound to 42.80 pounds per megawatt-hour.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.