Dutch and British wholesale gas prices were little changed on Thursday but could see upside given forecasts of colder weather and lower wind speed, analysts said.
The benchmark front-month contract at the Dutch TTF hub TRNLTTFMc1 was down 0.10 euro at 46.41 euros per megawatt hour (MWh), or $14.60/mmbtu, by 0922 GMT.
The Dutch-day ahead contract TRNLTTFD1 slipped 0.20 euros to 46.40 euros/MWh.
In Britain, the day-ahead contract TRGBNBPD1 fell by 1.15 pence to 115.27 p/therm.
A significant rise in gas demand for heating and for power generation on the day ahead as temperatures and wind power generation fall should give prices some support, said LSEG analyst Ulrich Weber.
Temperatures across Northwest Europe are expected to fall by 3° Celsius on the day ahead and are forecast slightly colder for next week.
Demand for heating for the day ahead is up by 565 gigawatt hour per day (GWh/d) to 3791 GWh/d and for working days next week it is 60 GWh/d up at 4120 GWh/d.
“Solid demand on the day ahead should lead to another day of sideways trading,” Weber said.
Analysts at Engie’s EnergyScan said the market seems to believe that there are still too many risk factors including weather, Russian gas supply through Ukraine and Asia LNG demand for a bearish trend to take hold.
EU gas stocks were 87.04% full, compared to 97.29% last year, EnergyScan analysts said.
Forecasts indicate Europe could be set for the coldest winter since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, boosting demand for LNG and keeping energy costs high, said Daniel Hynes, senior commodity strategist at ANZ bank.
Russia’s Gazprom GAZP.MM said it would send 42.4 million cubic metres (mcm) of gas to Europe via Ukraine on Thursday, the same volume as the previous day.
In the European carbon market CFI2Zc1, the benchmark contract was down 0.26 euro at 68.21 euros a metric ton.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Marwa Rashad; editing by Susan Fenton)