Dutch and British wholesale prices mostly rose as a current mild spell curbing demand is set to give way to colder weather in December and January and wider supply concerns.
The benchmark front-month contract at the Dutch TTF hub TRNLTTFMc1 was up 0.96 euro at 47.75 euros per megawatt hour (MWh), or $14.66/mmbtu, by 0847 GMT.
The day-ahead contract TRNLTTFD1 was up by 1.15 euro at 47.68 euros/MWh.
In Britain, the front-month contract TRGBNBPMc1 rose 2.17 pence to 118.75 pence per therm, while the day-ahead contract TRGBNBPD1 was up 4.00 pence at 118.00 p/therm.
“Temperatures have risen sharply during the weekend but are falling back almost as quickly in the UK,” LSEG analyst Ulrich Weber wrote, adding that wind power is also dropping sharply alongside temperatures.
Meanwhile, latest forecasts also suggest a colder start to December while a 46-day outlook, reaching into January, has overall turned colder, he added.
“Markets continue to remain volatile and holding at elevated levels, despite plenty of LNG queuing towards Europe with 10 cargoes UK bound in the coming weeks,” analysts at consultancy Auxilione said.
However, competition for LNG could increase if buyers in Asia are willing to pay higher prices to attract cargoes away from Europe, analysts at Engie EnergyScan said in a morning note.
Gas prices remain near one-year highs over concerns Russian gas supplies to Europe could end sooner than expected and as cold weather and low wind earlier in November have seen gas storage depleted at a faster rate than in previous years.
Europe’s gas stores are 87.9% full, ten percentage points lower than in 2023 at the same time, latest data from Gas Infrastructure Europe showed.
For now, Russian gas exports to Europe through Ukraine remain stable despite a contractual row between Kremlin-owned Gazprom GAZP.MM and Austria’s OMV OMVV.VI , which halted gas flows to the Vienna-based company this month.
In the European carbon market CFI2Zc1, the benchmark contract rose 0.47 euro to 69.74 euros a metric ton.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Nora Buli, Editing by Louise Heavens)