British and Dutch wholesale prompt gas prices were mixed on Monday with strong demand due to outages and colder weather partly offset by high liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply.
The Dutch day-ahead contract TRNLTTFD1 rose by 31 euros to 99.75 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) by 1013 GMT, while the December contract TRNLTTFMc1 was up 7.7 euros at 106.5 euros/MWh, according to Refinitiv Eikon data.
“The way is up for today with all the planned and unplanned outages, consumption is higher and its getting colder,” a European gas trader said.
Equinor’s EQNR.OL Aasgard B oil and gas processing platform was shut and partly evacuated late Sunday following a fire in a transformer, causing a production outage.
The shutdown resulted in an outage of gas production amounting to 19.8 million cubic metres (mcm) per day with “uncertain duration and capacity consequence”, Aasgard’s pipeline operator Gassco said in a regulatory filing.
Norwegian gas nominations to Europe dropped to 304 mcm on Monday from 312 mcm the previous day.
In the British gas market the day-ahead contract TRGBNBPD1 was down 22 pence at 77 pence per therm.
In Britain, peak wind generation is forecast at 8.13 gigawatts (GW) on Monday but will rise to almost 16 (GW) on Tuesday, Elexon data showed. Strong wind power output curbs demand from gas-fired power plants.
Maintenance at the Interconnector UK (IUK) pipeline connecting Britain with Belgium from Tuesday also reduces Britain’s ability to pump any excess gas to the continent.
The British December gas contract TRGBNBPMc1 was up 9.5 p at 238 p/therm, Refinitiv Eikon data showed.
An adjustment to the weather forecast towards colder temperatures well below seasonal norms by the end week is also supporting the uptrend.
However, LNG cargoes to north-west Europe, particularly Britain, remain strong, putting some pressure on prices.
In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract CFI2Zc1 was down 0.62 euro at 75.22 euros a tonne.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Marwa Rashad; Editing by Susanna Twidale)