Dutch and British wholesale gas prices were a touch firmer on Monday morning but set to see more volatility this week as milder weather is offset by the need to refill storages while peace in Ukraine remains elusive.

The Dutch front-month contract (TRNLTTFMc1) was up 0.60 euro at 41.00 euros per megawatt hour (MWh), or $13.01/mmBtu, by 0850 GMT, LSEG data showed.

The contract for May (TRNLTTFMK5), which will become the new front-month, was up by 0.81 euro at 41.40 euros/MWh.

In the British market, the day-ahead contract (TRGBNBPD1) rose 2.00 pence to 99.00 p/therm, while the within-day contract (TRGBNBPWKD) was up by 2 pence at 98.00 p/therm.

The market opened on the quiet side, analysts at Energi Danmark said in their morning report.

“But we are most certainly up for another volatile week,” they added.

Europe is facing a huge task of refilling its gas storages over the next months, but economic concerns and fading hopes of a peace agreement in Ukraine were weighing on the market, they said.

EU gas storage inventories were last seen 33.7% full, according to data from Gas Infrastructure Europe.

Current European Union rules call for stocks to be replenished to 90% full by Nov. 1, but member states may see some flexibility on both timing and levels.

Last week had seen first net injections into European storage and similar levels could be achieved this week as temperatures are set to warm throughout the week, LSEG analyst Ulrich Weber said.

Slovak gas importer SPP said it will not have problems filling storage this summer, and Russia’s Gazprom said it will substantially increase gas supplies to Slovakia through the TurkStream pipeline from April.

In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract (CFI2Zc1) was down by 0.72 euro to 68.08 euros a metric ton.
Source: Reuters