Dutch and British wholesale gas prices were mixed on Thursday morning, with strong demand from power plants offset by healthy supplies.

The benchmark front-month Dutch contract was up 1.05 euros at 27.30 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) by 0912 GMT according to Refinitiv Eikon data.

The Dutch day-ahead contract fell by 0.40 euros to 26.70 euros/MWh.

The equivalent British day-ahead contract was up by 2.25 pence to 66.25 p/therm.

Analysts said lower wind speeds in Britain and Europe had increased demand for gas from gas-fired power plants.

In Britain, peak wind power generation was forecast at 2.6 gigawatts (GW) on Thursday and 2.8 GW on Friday from a total metered capacity of 22 GW, Elexon data showed.

German wind power production was forecast to drop 4.1 gigawatts (GW) on Friday to 3.5 GW, according to Refinitiv Eikon data.

Europe’s gas storage sites were 82% full according to Gas Infrastructure Europe, meaning the bloc is well on track to meet a target to have stores 90% full by Nov. 1.

“With storages filling, demand remaining soft, and supply from Norway recovering we expect rangebound trading to continue on the prompt in the absence of any supply disruption or demand surprises,” Refinitiv analyst Wayne Bryan said in a daily research note.

Flows of Russian gas to Europe via Ukraine remained stable.

Russia’s Gazprom said that it will ship 42.5 million cubic metres of gas to Europe via Ukraine on Thursday.

In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract edged up by 0.75 euro to 89.93 euros a metric ton.
Source: Reuters (Reporting By Susanna Twidale; Editing by Rashmi Aich)