Dutch and British wholesale gas prices were mixed on Monday due to low wind speeds, planned outages at the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS) and healthy inventories for the time of year.

The British within-day contract rose by 2.00 pence to 170 p/therm by 1028 GMT, while the day-ahead contract was down 6 pence at 167 p/therm, according to Refinitiv Eikon data.

Total Norwegian export nominations were down from 337 million cubic meters per day (mcm/d) to 303 mcm/d on Monday, with several planned outages due to take place this week, reducing gas availability.

Cold weather has raised demand for heating, as well as gas for power demand recently, pushing up prices in recent days, with gains on Friday the strongest since the beginning of the year.

“So far this month the market appears to have found a new range to settle in. It is considerably less volatile than previously seen and will be a very welcome sight to the majority of the market,” consultancy Auxilione said in a morning report.

“UK temperatures are now expected to rise and stay just above seasonal normal for the coming couple of weeks which may help keep markets in the new zone it has found,” it added.

UK peak wind generation is forecast at 4.8 gigawatts (GW) on Monday and at 7.2 GW on Tuesday, out of a total metered capacity of 22 GW.

Lower wind output usually increases demand for gas from power plants.

The benchmark Dutch front month contract at the TTF hub was down 7.6 euros at 161.1 euros/MWh, according to data from the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE).

Healthy storage levels have also weighed on European gas prices in recent weeks, being 78.3% full, according to the latest data from Gas Infrastructure Europe.

Eastbound gas flows through the Yamal-Europe pipeline to Poland from Germany edged up on Monday morning, as did Russian supplies to Europe via Ukraine.

In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract was down 0.33 euros at 84.72 euros a tonne.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Marwa Rashad Editing by Sharon Singleton)