Dutch and British wholesale gas prices were quite flat on Tuesday morning on ample supplies and low demand.
The benchmark front-month contract at the Dutch TTF hub inched up by 0.77 euro to 52.42 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) by 0938 GMT, while the April price edged up by 0.85 euro to 52.85 euros/MWh, Refinitiv Eikon data showed.
Prices were near their lowest level since Sept. 2021, well below a record peak of more than 300 euros/MWh reached last year on reduced supplies of Russian gas to Europe.
The British within-day contract was 1.50 pence lower at 128.50 pence per therm, while the day-ahead contract inched up by 0.50 pence to 131 p/therm.
“There isn’t a strong driver for much uplift at the moment: LNG supply is ample and wind is getting stronger,” a gas trader said.
Elexon data showed UK peak wind generation is forecast at 9.6 gigawatts (GW) on Tuesday, but will rise to around 12.5 GW on Wednesday, potentially reducing demand for gas from power plants.
“A bearish session to start the week as temperatures for the rest of February are expected to stay above seasonal normal, negating the need for aggressive storage usage which remain two-thirds full – a long-term high for this time of year,” consultancy Auxilione said in a morning report.
Temperatures are expected to continue rising until the end of this week in the UK and north-west Europe, before falling closer to the seasonal norm next week, Refinitiv Eikon data showed.
The latest forecasts also show colder-than-normal temperatures in March.
Eastbound gas flows on the Yamal-Europe pipeline to Poland from Germany rose on Tuesday morning, data from pipeline operator Gascade showed, while liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply was healthy.
Further easing supply worries, Freeport LNG sought permission from U.S. federal regulators on Monday to restart commercial operations at its long-idled Freeport liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plant in Texas.
In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract edged up by 0.80 euro to 93.02 euros a tonne.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Swati Verma; editing by Nina Chestney)