Dutch and British wholesale gas prices continued to slide downwards on Tuesday morning as strong supply and storage levels offset higher demand.

The benchmark front-month contract at the Dutch TTF hub edged down by 0.96 euro to 30.60 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) by 0842 GMT, while the March contract was down 0.83 euro at 30.72 euros/MWh, according to LSEG data.

In Britain, the front-month contract fell by 2.95 pence to 76.00 pence per therm.

Gas prices weakened on Monday, despite a cold snap across much of north-west Europe, as stable supply and robust storage levels compensated for higher demand for gas for heating.

“Today’s fundamental picture remains almost unchanged from yesterday with increased liquefied natural gas send-outs being priced in and a bulk of demand offset by heavy storage withdrawals during the cold spell over this and next week,” said Yuriy Onyshkiv, gas analyst at LSEG.

High stocks, stable and robust LNG supply and no outages in Norway over the next two weeks are supporting the status quo but any major change to weather forecasts could change this situation, he added.

Total UK LNG send-out rose by 6 million cubic metres (mcm) per day to 107 mcm/day – the highest level since January last year, according to LSEG data.

On Monday, the Dutch government said it would resume minimal production at its Groningen gas field due to low temperatures. The gas field stopped production last year but has been kept in operational mode in case of emergencies.

In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract CFI2Zc1 inched down by 0.24 euro to 72.18 euros per metric ton.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Nina Chestney)