Dutch and British wholesale gas prices were slightly higher on Thursday morning on concerns aboutrema ining Russian gas flows to Europe, but amid largely balanced stable supply and demand.
The benchmark front-month contract at the Dutch TTF hub TRNLTTFMc1 was up 0.30 euro at 35.60 euros per megawatt hour (MWh), or $11.18/mmbtu, by 0849 GMT, LSEG data showed.
The Dutch day-ahead contract TRNLTTFD1 was up 0.15 euros at 35.23 euros/MWh.
In the British market, the day-ahead contract TRGBNBPD1 inched lifted 0.45 pence to 84.00 pence per therm and the front-month TRGBNBPMc1 contract was up 0.74 pence at 83.60 p/therm.
“Overall, the fundamental changes are small this morning and sideways movement should continue,” LSEG analyst Ulrich Weber said in a morning note.
Rising wind speeds are reducing gas-for-power demand, but supplies from liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals are limited, he added.
From a wider perspective, the market remains on edge over potential disruptions to remaining Russian gas supplies.
Austria’s OMV has previously warned Russian gas producer Gazprom may halt piped shipments amid legal action from third parties that may suspend payments.
“Today being the 20th is a key day as the majority of payments are expected to flow today for the previous months deliveries in gas contracts,” consultancy Auxilione said in its daily market report.
Gazprom said it would send 42.4 million cubic metres of gas to Europe via Ukraine on Thursday, unchanged from Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the European Union agreed a 14th package of sanctions against Russia over its war in Ukraine, including a ban on Russian on trans-shipments of LNG, is the first restriction the bloc has applied.
However, the measure is expected to have little impact as Europe is still buying Russian gas itself.
European gas storage facilities were last seen 74.1% full, still historically high for the time of year but slightly below their 2023 levels, according to Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE) data.
In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract CFI2Zc1 rose by 0.27 euros to 70.60 euros per metric ton.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Nora Buli; editing by Nina Chestney)