Dutch and British wholesale gas prices mostly rose on Friday morning amid supply concerns after workers at Chevron’s CVX.N liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities in Australia threatened to resume strikes as talks broke down.

The Dutch November contract TRNLTTFMc1 was up 0.70 euros to 37.00 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) at 0836 GMT, while the day-ahead contract TRNLTTFD1 was 0.45 euros lower at 28.00 euros/MWh, according to LSEG data.

Efforts to finalise a pact that ended strikes at Chevron’s two Australian LNG plants stumbled on Thursday, when workers voted to restart stoppages after unions accused the U.S. energy major of reneging on commitments.

Another bullish factor was the end of an unseasonably warm start to October as temperatures start to drop, raising demand for heating, LSEG analyst Timothy Crump said.

“However, this is overshadowed by a 24% increase in Norwegian nominations, taking flows back to their highest since August,” he added.

Europe’s gas storage sites were 96.47% full, the latest data from Gas Infrastructure Europe showed.

In Britain, wind speed is forecast to be down on the day ahead and over the weekend, supporting a rise in gas for power demand.

Peak wind power generation in the UK is forecast at 15.9 gigawatts (GW) on Friday, falling to 11.7 GW on Saturday, out of a total metered capacity of 22 GW, Elexon data showed.

The British day-ahead contract TRGBNBPWKD rose by 2.75 pence to 67.75 p/therm, while the November contract TRGBNBPMc1 was 0.50 pence higher at 90.50 p/therm, according to LSEG data.

In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract CFI2Zc1 inched up 0.49 euros to 81.00 euros a tonne.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Marwa Rashad; Editing by Jan Harvey)