Dutch and British gas prices edged lower on Thursday morning as an easing in maintenance led to increased flows from Norway and warm temperatures curbed demand.

The benchmark front-month contract at the Dutch TTF hub inched down by 0.18 euro to 33.70 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) by 0801 GMT, while the July contract slipped 0.23 euro to 33.90 euros/MWh, according to LSEG data.

In the British market, the day-ahead contract was down 1.25 pence at 81.00 pence per therm.

“Temperatures increase over the weekend and remain above (seasonal) normal until at least the end of our forecast horizon,” LSEG analyst Wayne Bryan said in a daily research note.

Analysts at LSEG forecast Northwest European local distribution zone demand, which is primarily used for home heating, at 980 gigawatt hours/day (GWh/d) for Friday falling to 807 GWh/d at the weekend.

Softer demand also coincided with an increase in supply from Norway as maintenance eased at the Kollsness gas processing plant

“Process issues at Kollsness continue, albeit having a very small impact, and (it) is expected to return to full capacity imminently,” an analyst at consultancy Auxilione said.

Analysts at LSEG said Norwegian export nominations were at 291 million cubic metres/day (mcm/d), up from 274 mcm/day previously.

Gas supply from Russia to Europe via Ukraine also remained steady.

Russian gas producer Gazprom said it would send 42.4 million cubic metres (mcm) of gas to Europe via Ukraine on Thursday, the same volume as on Wednesday.

In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract edged up by 0.13 euro to 73.99 euros per metric ton.
Source: Reuters (Reporting By Susanna Twidale; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)