UK prices mostly rise on undersupply, Dutch prices mixed

**LONDON: British gas prices mostly rose on Wednesday morning, due to low wind power and maintenance at UK gas fields while Dutch prices were mixed, with gas flows from Russia steady.

The British day-ahead contract rose by 33 pence to 285 pence per therm by 0900 GMT while the within-day contract rose by 31 pence to 271 pence per therm.

“(The) UK market opened undersupplied this morning amid heavy UKCS (Continental Shelf) maintenance at several landing terminals that continues this week,” analysts at Refinitiv said in a daily research note.

Traders said an expected drop in output from the country’s wind farms had also led to strong demand for gas from power generators.

Peak wind power generation is forecast at 12.7 gigawatts (GW) on Wednesday, falling to 4.2 GW on Thursday compared with total metered capacity of around 20 GW, Elexon data showed Britain’s gas system was undersupplied by 4.1 million cubic metres (mcm) on Wednesday, National Grid data a showed. In the Dutch market prices were mixed.

The front-month gas contract fell by 1.95 euros to 206.05 euros per megawatt hour (MWh). The day-ahead contract rose by 1 euro to euros/MWh.

Gas supplies to Europe from Russia were steady although remaining at low levels with the Nord Stream 1 pipeline still operating at just 20% of capacity.

Russia says the capacity cut is needed due to maintenance, but European leaders believe equipment issues are being used as a pretext by Moscow to keep sending less gas to Europe.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Wednesday blamed Moscow for delays in the return of a gas turbine for the Nord Stream 1 pipeline that had been serviced in Canada but has since been stranded in Germany.