British and Dutch gas prices rose on Friday morning on a colder weather outlook until mid-February and lower Norwegian flows.

The British contract for February delivery rose by 20.00 pence to 2.20 pounds per therm by 1005 GMT, while the day-ahead contract was up 19.00 pence at 2.20 pounds per therm.

The benchmark Dutch front-month contract rose by 7.72 euros to 91.72 euros per megawatt hour (MWh), while the contract for next day delivery rose by 12.15 euros to 92.10 euros/MWh.

Prices started to rise yesterday afternoon after an unplanned outage at the Troll gas field reduced Norwegian flows to Britain and continental Europe.

The maintenance at Troll has a 26 million cubic metre (mcm) day reduction and is scheduled to last until Jan. 17 but with “uncertain duration,” Refinitiv gas analysts said.

The weather outlook has also turned colder for Britain and north-west Europe from Jan. 20 until mid-February, which could raise demand for heating.

“The weather forecast turning colder, less Norwegian and Russian flows, possibly slowing LNG barrage and less gas in storage are all driving prices higher,” a European gas trader said.

Weaker wind output towards the end of the week is also expected which could increase gas-for-power demand.

Traders also said news from France’s EDF that the company may have to examine halting reactors outside its planned calendar was bullish.

The Yamal-Europe pipeline, which usually sends Russian gas west into Europe, flowed east from Germany to Poland for a 25th successive day on Friday, data from German network operator Gascade showed.

In other markets, the European benchmark December 2022 emission allowance (EUA) contract CFI2Zc1 euros inched up by 1.19 euros to 81.75 euros a tonne.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Marwa Rashad; Editing by Nina Chestney)