Dutch and British gas prices were mixed on Thursday morning, trading in a narrow range, as strong storage inventories and softer demand eased concerns over any supply risks.

The benchmark front-month contract at the Dutch TTF hub TRNLTTFMc1 was up 0.17 euros at 30.95 euros per megawatt hour (MWh), or $9.8/mmBtu, by 0904 GMT, LSEG data showed.

The Dutch day-ahead contract

In the British market, the day-ahead contract TRGBNBPD1 was 0.28 pence down to 71.3 pence per therm.

“Europe is entering peak summer with inventories fuller than usual, while steady flows of gas from Norway have returned,” Daniel Hynes, senior commodity strategist at ANZ bank said.

European gas storage facilities were last seen 79.85% full, data from Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE) showed.

Analysts at Engie’s Energy Scan said that a market downtrend is now clearly established.

Temperatures across north-west Europe remain elevated but will dip into weekend before rising strongly into next week, LSEG data showed.

“Summer weather in the northern hemisphere is the top factor to watch out for in the coming weeks. If prolonged heatwaves happen in major countries, it may break the well-balanced market,” consultancy Rystad Energy said in a morning report.

The market is also closely monitoring the restart of U.S. Freeport LNG production, which has protectively shut down operations due to Hurricane Beryl.

LSEG analyst Wayne Bryan said that the power supply in the surrounding area is still not fully restored and Freeport is impacted. Freeport requires 690 megawatts of power to operate its liquefaction facilities.

“There is a slight bullish risk on any negative news updates regarding Freeport,” Bryan said.

In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract CFI2Zc1 rose by 0.10 euros to 68.03 euros per metric ton.
Source: Reuters (Reporting By Marwa Rashad; Editing by Nina Chestney)