British and Dutch gas prices rose on Thursday morning as Norwegian exports fell due to an outage and on expectations of lower wind power generation.

The British day-ahead gas price TRGBNBPD1 was 15.00 pence higher at 250 pence per therm by 0858 GMT, while the weekend contract TRGBNBPWE rose by 15.00 pence to 240 p/therm.

In the Dutch gas market, April contract TRNLTTFMc1 was 3.20 euros higher at 108.20 euros per megawatt hour.

Norwegian exports were lower due to an ongoing outage at the Aasya Hansteen field.

Russian gas deliveries to Europe via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline declined from normal levels but were in line with nominations, while the Yamal-Europe pipeline remained in reverse mode for a third consecutive day.

Wind power generation is forecast lower for next week compared to this week and below the seasonal norm, which could raise gas-for-power demand.

Prices fell on Wednesday amid losses across the energy complex.

Norway’s Equinor also said it will boost its gas output in the coming months, keeping production higher than normal through the summer and delivering bigger volumes to Europe.
However, a rise in benchmark Japan-Korea-Marker (JKM) prices for liquefied natural gas (LNG) justify a rebound in European gas prices, analysts at Engie EnergyScan said.

“Europe will still need high LNG supply, and thus a price premium against Asia,” they added.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Nina Chestney)