Dutch and British wholesale gas prices slipped on Thursday morning as temperatures remained above normal for the time of year and supply stayed stable.

The benchmark front-month contract at the Dutch TTF hub was down 0.87 euro at 40.35 euros per megawatt hour (MWh), or $12.84/mmbtu, by 0915 GMT, LSEG data showed.

The Dutch December contract, which will become the front-month contract on Nov. 1, slipped 0.87 euros to 40.75 euros/MWh.

The British day-ahead contract fell 1.05 pence to 99.45 p/therm.

“Temperature forecasts for the coming days are above seasonal normal, which has changed significantly in recent weeks a number of times,” consultancy Auxilione said in a daily research note.

The mild temperatures mean withdraws from Europe’s gas stores have been small so far, with Europe’s gas storage sites currently just over 95% full, data from Gas Infrastructure Europe showed.

Norwegian export nominations were up 3 million cubic metres/ day (mcm) at 337 mcm/d, LSEG data showed, following an end to maintenance at the Skarv gas field.

The market will be closely watching any news about remaining maintenance, LSEG analyst Yuriy Onyshkiv said in a daily research note.

“Any additions or extensions to the Norwegian maintenance schedule as well as colder weather forecast will easily put gas prices on an upward slope again,” Onyshkiv said.

Supply of gas from Russia to Europe via Ukraine remained stable.

Russia’s Gazprom said that it would send 42.4 million cubic metres (mcm) of gas to Europe via Ukraine on Thursday, the same volume as on Wednesday.

In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract edged down 0.34 euro to 65.13 euros a metric ton.
Source: Reuters (Reporting By Susanna Twidale; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)