Dutch and British wholesale gas prices edged lower on Friday amid strong liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply but they remain supported by ongoing supply worries.

The benchmark front-month contract at the Dutch TTF hub TRNLTTFMc1 inched down by 0.15 euro to 34.00 euros per megawatt hour by 0800 GMT, LSEG data showed.

The August contract TRNLTTFMc2 was down 0.37 euro at 34.23 euros/MWh.

In the British market, the weekend contract TRGBNPWE contract eased by 1.00 pence to 79.00 pence per therm.

Total north-west European LNG send-outs are expected at 1,778 gigawatt hours/day (GWh/d) on Friday compared with 1,602 GWh/d on Thursday, LSEG data showed.

Ongoing concerns about a possible cut-off in Russian gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine has continued to provide some price support.

“There is still some risk that Russian pipeline imports are cut before the end of 2024, either due to arbitration awards preventing EU firms from paying Gazprom for gas receipts or physical damage to pipeline infrastructure in the vicinity of Sudzha,” analysts at Energy Aspects said in a report.

Poland’s biggest energy company Orlen PKN.WA warned gas companies in Hungary, Slovakia and Austria that it could seize their payments for imports from Russia’s Gazprom GAZP.MM, Reuters reported on Thursday.

“Neither fully confident about the European gas balance nor fully worried, the market keeps its wait-and-see position,” analysts at Engie EnergyScan said in a report.

Gazprom said that it would send 42.4 million cubic metres of gas to Europe via Ukraine on Thursday, the same volume as on Thursday.

In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract CFI2Zc1 was down 0.34 euro at 66.32 euros per metric ton.
Source: Reuters (Reporting By Susanna Twidale; editing by Nina Chestney)