British and Dutch wholesale gas prices edged down on Wednesday morning on comfortable supply and storage levels and weaker demand.

The benchmark Dutch May price edged down by 0.50 euro to 42.50 euros per megawatt hour by 0826 GMT, Refinitiv Eikon data showed.

The British within-day contract was down 2.00 pence at 101.00 pence per therm and the day-ahead price was 0.30 pence lower at 100.45 pence/therm.

The British gas system was 11 million cubic metres (mcm) over-supplied, according to National Grid data, as flows through the Langeled pipeline from Norway rose after the cancellation of outages at the Troll field and Kollsnes gas processing plant.

On Monday, those outages were cancelled due to industrial strike action. But the Troll maintenance is rescheduled to start on April 24 and Kollsnes will start on April 26.

Local distribution zone (LDZ) consumption in Britain, mainly used for heating, is forecast to be 7 mcm lower at 105 mcm/day for the day ahead.

Temperatures in Britain are seen slightly below normal levels this week and a stronger fall below normal levels is expected next week.

Wind output is also expected to be quite strong which should reduce gas-for-power demand. Peak UK wind generation is forecast at 12.3 gigawatts (GW) on Wednesday and 11.5 GW on Thursday, out of total metered capacity of around 22 GW, Elexon data showed.

“With renewable generation expected at higher levels for the remaining of the week, power generators are not in a hurry to buy gas on the spot market,” said analysts at Engie EnergyScan.

In Europe, cooler temperatures are expected tomorrow then they are forecast to rise over the weekend and drop again below the seasonal norm next week, Refinitiv Eikon data showed.

In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract edged up by 0.57 euro to 95.88 euros a tonne.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Nina Chestney)