Dutch and British wholesale gas prices edged higher on Thursday morning as annual maintenance at several Norwegian gas infrastructure sites curbed supply.

The benchmark front-month contract at the Dutch TTF hub TRNLTTFMc1 was up 0.62 euros at 39 euros per megawatt hour (MWh), or $12.67/mmBtu, by 0812 GMT, LSEG data shows.

The October contract TRNLTTFMc2 was up 0.07 euros at 39.20 euros/MWh.

In the British market, the day-ahead contract TRGBNBPD1 was up 0.4 pence at 92.50 pence per therm.

“Norwegian output is lower today compared to yesterday as planned maintenance begins to take hold, expected to continue throughout much of September ahead of the winter delivery period,” consultancy Auxilione said in a daily market report.

Norway’s Kollsnes gas processing plant has an ongoing capacity reduction of 18 million cubic metres/day (mcm/d) until Sept. 2, followed by a 61 mcm/d reduction for two days until Sept. 4, LSEG data showed.

“Flows via Norway have dropped 24 mcm/d as the deluge of long-anticipated planned maintenances is upon us,” LSEG analyst Tim Crump said in a daily report. “Terminal outages are expected to rise to 125 mcm/d tomorrow.”

Supply of gas to Europe from Russia via Ukraine remained steady.

Russia’s Gazprom GAZP.MM said it would send 42.4 million cubic metres (mcm) of gas to Europe via Ukraine on Thursday, unchanged from Wednesday.

In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract CFI2Zc1 was little changed, down 1 euro cent at 70.76 euros per metric ton.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Susanna Twidale, Editing by David Goodman)