Wholesale British and Dutch gas prices were mixed on Monday morning on Norwegian outage, lower wind and lower flows of liquefied natural gas (LNG), although rising temperatures across Europe are expected to keep demand low.

The Dutch benchmark front-month contract was 1.30 euro higher at 29.70 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) by 0903 GMT, while the August price was up 1.17 euro at 30.90 euros/MWh, according to Refinitiv Eikon data.

The British day-ahead price was 4.50 pence lower at 74.00 pence per therm, while the weekend price was 4.55 pence lower at 75.30 p/therm.

Several outages at Norwegian gas fields have been extended last week.

Refinitiv analyst Ulrich Weber said flows from Norway picked up over the weekend acting as a bearish driver and the supply side is further strengthened by France’s Montoir coming out of maintenance as well as low consumption forecast in the next couple of days.

The latest weather forecast predicts a period of extraordinarily warm temperatures in the UK and above normal temperatures through next week across Northwest Europe, leading to lower gas consumption.

Europe’s gas stores are already 71.9% full, the latest data from Gas Infrastructure Europe showed, while the continent’s LNG supply remains solid.

In Britain, the gas market was undersupplied by 12.7 million cubic metres (mcm) on Monday, with demand forecast at 136.6 mcm and supply at 123.9 mcm, National Grid data showed.

Peak wind power generation in Britain is forecast at 5.1 gigawatts (GW) for Monday and 6.6 GW on Tuesday out of total metered capacity of 22 GW, Elexon data showed.

In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract was 1.35 euros lower at 85.40 euros a tonne.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Marwa Rashad; Editing by Ed Osmond)