British and Dutch wholesale gas prices fell on Thursday as Norwegian flows to Britain and continental Europe increased while demand remained stable.
The British day-ahead contract fell by 22.50 pence to 257.50 pence per therm by 0934 GMT, and the within-day contract fell by 24.00 pence to 253.00 pence per therm.
“The bearish sentiment is coming from increased flows from Norway following a scheduled return of Norwegian fields and processing plants from maintenance,” Refinitiv analysts said.
Production at a Norwegian gas platform and North Sea gas transportation hub Sleipner Riser were shut on Tuesday after gas leaks occurred, and it was unclear when output would resume.
Norwegian gas facility Nyhamna is expected to restart on Thursday following maintenance.
Norwegian gas nominations to Europe rose by 40 million cubic metres (mcm) per day to 300 mcm compared to the previous day.
The Dutch benchmark front-month contract was down 3.30 euros at 179.00 euros per megawatt hour (MWh).
The Norwegian outages coincide with annual maintenance of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline from Russia to Germany that started on Monday and will last until July 21. Governments, markets and companies are concerned the shutdown might be extended.
Russian gas producer Gazprom said on Wednesday it could not guarantee the safe operation of a critical part of the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline because of doubt over the return of a turbine from Canada.
Nominations for Russian gas flows into Slovakia from Ukraine via the Velke Kapusany border point were steady on Thursday.
Imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the region was stable, an analyst said, while UK domestic production and consumption remained steady.
The UK system was slightly under-supplied. A heatwave and lower wind input was expected to increase gas-for-power demand.
Peak wind power generation in Britain is forecast at 3.8 gigawatts (GW) on Thursday and is expected rise to 4.5 on Friday, out of a total metered capacity of around 20 GW.
In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract CFI2Zc1 edged down by 0.31 euro to 83.55 euros a tonne.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin; editing by Nina Chestney)