Dutch and British wholesale gas prices edged lower on Thursday morning as supply remained stable while the wind power outlook curbed gas demand from power plants in northwest Europe.

The benchmark front-month contract at the Dutch TTF hub was down 0.4 euros at 32.30 euros per megawatt hour (MWh), or $10.27 /mmbtu, by 0814 GMT, LSEG data showed.

The Dutch September contract was down 0.58 euros at 33.78 euros/MWh.

In the British market, the within-day contract was down 1 pence at 74.00 pence per therm.

Analysts at LSEG said higher wind speeds are expected to lead to lower demand for gas from power plants in northwest Europe, with non-local distribution zone demand (which is mainly power demand) down 80 gigawatt hours/day (GWh/d) at 1,858 GWh/day for Friday.

Supply, meanwhile, remained stable. 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.

The current transit agreement for Russia to supply gas to Europe via Ukraine expires at the end of 2024.

Analysts at BNP Paribas said that an end to this supply has already been priced into the market.

“We agree with this and continue to assume most of these flows will disappear by Jan. 1, 2025,” they said in a research note, adding that Europe should have enough flexibility from other sources, such as LNG imports, to compensate for losing this supply.

In the European carbon market CFI2Zc1, the benchmark contract edged down by 0.58 euros to 67.83 euros a ton.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Susanna Twidale, Editing by David Goodman)