Dutch and British gas prices fell on Tuesday morning, with healthy gas supply and weaker demand offsetting wider geopolitical concerns after several shippers paused transit through the Red Sea because of the conflict in the Middle East.

The benchmark front-month contract TRNLTTFMc1 at the Dutch TTF hub was down 2.25 euros at 33.15 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) by 0949 GMT, LSEG data showed.

The March contract TRNLTTFMc3 lost 2.05 euros to 33.91 euros per megawatt hour (MWh).

In the British market, the day-ahead contract TRGBNBPD1 fell by 3.50 pence to 73.00 p/therm.

“The supply side is once and again robust with Norwegian flows continuing strong and liquefied natural gas sendout expected stable,” LSEG analyst Saku Jussila said in a daily market note.

Jussila said that strong output from renewable power producers was also curbing gas demand.

“On the Continent, non-LDZ (heating) consumption is expected down 206 gigawatt hours/day on day-ahead as winds are picking up towards the weekend,” Jussila said.

Gas prices rose on Monday after several shippers said they would to reroute to avoid the Suez canal after attacks by the Iran-aligned Yemeni Houthi militant group on ships in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait.

Analysts, however, said the impact on gas supplies to Europe is likely to be limited.

“Qatar is only about 5% of all Europe (EU+UK) net LNG and natural gas supply, and it’s the only real main source that goes via Bab al-Mandab,” ICIS analyst Tom Marzec-Manser said on social media platform X.

In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract CFI2Zc1 slipped by 0.60 euros to 71.40 euros a metric ton.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Susanna Twidale, Editing by David Goodman)