Dutch and British wholesale gas prices firmed on Monday morning, supported by technical trading and as lower renewable energy output lifted demand for gas.

The benchmark Dutch front-month contract – now the contract for October – at the TTF hub, was up 0.34 euros at 32.00 euros per megawatt hour (MWh), or $11.00/mmBtu, by 0842 GMT, LSEG data showed.

The contract for November (TRNLTTFMc2) rose by 0.66 euro to 33.08 euros/MWh.

The British front-month gas price (TRGBNBPMc1) gained 0.37 pence to 78.50 pence per therm and the November contract rose by 1.35 pence to 84 p/therm.

The downside is limited by technical resistance around current price levels and amid slightly higher demand and tightening supply, Karsten Sander Nielsen, senior market analyst at Mind Energy said.

Total gas demand in north-west Europe was rose to over 100 gigawatt hours (GWh) per day for Tuesday due to softer renewable energy output and a slight drop in temperatures, said LSEG’s head of gas research, Wayne Bryan.

Major cooler-than-normal spells are not likely in continental Europe in the coming weeks, LSEG meteorologist Georg Mueller said.

Britain’s peak wind power generation was expected at 17.5 gigawatts (GW) on Monday before dropping to 13 GW on Tuesday, Elexon data showed.

“As we move into the final month of summer delivery, the winter delivery contracts become the focal point for the markets,” consultancy Auxilione said in a note.

EU gas storage sites were last 77.3% full, compared with around 92% at the same time last year and 80% in 2022, Gas Infrastructure Europe data showed.

The market is also awaiting how the U.S. will react to last week’s delivery of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo from the sanctioned Arctic LNG 2 plant, which if unchallenged could see further deliveries from the plant, analysts at Engie EnergyScan said.

In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract (CFI2Zc1) was up 0.76 euro at 73.75 euros a metric ton.
Source: Reuters