UK GAS-Prices rise on lower Norwegian exports, lower wind power

LONDON: Prompt British wholesale gas prices rose on Monday morning on lower Norwegian exports and forecasts of low output from the country's wind farms.

The within-day contract was up 1.25 pence at 30.00 p/therm by 0908 GMT.

The day-ahead contract was up 0.70 pence at 30.50 p/therm.

Traders said even though the market was over-supplied, prices were supported by lower imports from Norway and expectations of strong demand from gas-fired power plants due to forecasts of low wind speeds.

Peak wind power generation is forecast at 2.7 gigawatts (GW) on Monday, rising to 9.5 GW on Tuesday, National Grid data showed.

Gas power plants were supplied around 60pc of the country's electricity, National Grid data showed.

"Norwegian flows decreased by 7 mcm/d (million cubic metres/day), as Vesterled drops by 4 mcm/d to 0 due to the end of Gullfaks maintenance over the weekend," analysts at Refinitiv said in a daily research note.

Maintenance on a compressor which had led to an increase in output at the Gullfaks field ended on Monday morning, operator Gassco said in a market update.

Britain's gas system was over-supplied, with demand forecast at 173.8 mcm and flows at 181.2 mcm/day, National Grid data showed.

Further out on the curve, prices also rose.

The October contract was up 0.35 p at 30.40 p/therm.

The Winter 2020 contract was up 0.20 pence at 38.40 p/therm.

The day-ahead gas price at the Dutch TTF hub was up 0.33 euro to 11.43 euros per megawatt hour.

The benchmark Dec-20 EU carbon contract was down 0.86 euro at 27.13 euros per tonne.