British and Dutch gas prices were mixed on Wednesday morning due to rises in Norwegian pipeline supplies after maintenance, slower arrivals of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and lacklustre demand.

The benchmark front-month Dutch contract TRNLTTFMc1 was up 1.00 euro at 35.05 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) by 0828 GMT, Refinitiv Eikon data showed.

The Dutch-day ahead contract TRNLTTFD1 rose by 0.60 euros to 34.70 euros.

The equivalent British day-ahead contract TRGBNBPD1 was down 1.55 pence at 86.00 pence per therm.

Markets remain rangebound overall but with volatile daily moves, consultancy Auxilione said in a note.

“There is still no change in the overall outlook, and so we may see this daily yo-yo for some time to come yet,” they added.

Pipeline supplies from Norway continue to improve as some maintenance has ended but an outage reducing 104 million cubic metres (mcm) per day at the Troll field has been extended a further four days to July 10.

Meanwhile, arrivals of liquefied natural gas are slowing in north-western Europe, with just nine cargoes expected until mid-July.

Demand remains muted, with June gas consumption seen 15% lower than the 2017-2021 average, according to data intelligence firm ICIS.

Europe’s gas stocks are 78.1% full, the latest data from Gas Infrastructure Europe showed.

A drop in renewable power production in continental Europe on Thursday was supportive for prices, Engie EnergyScan analysts said.

Lower output from wind farms typically results in increased use of fossil fuel power plants, including those running on gas.

In Britain, peak wind power output was set to rise, however, from 6.3 gigawatts (GW) on Wednesday to 11.4 GW on Thursday, according to Elexon data.

In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract CFI2Zc1 was down 0.82 euros at 86.43 euros a tonne.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Nora Buli in OSLO; editing by Nina Chestney)