Dutch and British wholesale prices edged down on Wednesday morning amid profit taking and as Slovakia’s SPP said it was taking measures to ensure supply due to the risk of Ukraine gas transit ending at the end of the year.

The benchmark front-month contract at the Dutch TTF hub TRNLTTFMc1 inched down by 0.10 euro at 43.45 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) by 1025 GMT, LSEG data showed.

The Dutch day-ahead contract TRNLTTFD1 slipped 0.55 euros at 43.15 euros/MWh.

The British contract for December fell by 2.20 pence to 110.50 pence per therm.

Dutch gas tested a year-to-date high on Monday due to forecasts which showed temperatures in the low single digits until the end of December and low wind output but slipped yesterday.

“Prices are to likely experience some further retracement due to profit taking and with storages remaining at over 92% of capacity,” said Timothy Crump, gas analyst at LSEG.

Demand is flat, while supply from Norway and liquefied natural gas cargoes is steady.

Temperatures are expected to increase by an average 1.2 degrees Celsius in north-west Europe on the day ahead but continue to fall this month, LSEG data showed.

Meanwhile, Slovakia’s SPP said that it supports the continuation of gas transit through Ukraine but due to the risk of that stopping, it is taking measures to ensure supply.

Among other measures, it has agreed a short-term pilot contract for gas from Azerbaijan’s SOCAR.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Nina Chestney)