British and Dutch prompt wholesale gas prices fell on Wednesday morning as continued mild weather curbed gas demand for heating and enabled Europe to build its stock levels.

The Dutch front-month contract was down 3.65 euros at 68.90 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) by 1017 GMT,

The British within-day contract fell by 28 pence to 140 p/therm, while the day-ahead contract slipped 10 p to 140 p/therm according to Refinitiv Eikon data.

“The second half of this week will be milder than normal and generally cloudy and windy, with rain in the UK and northwestern Central Europe,” Refinitiv Meteorologist George Muller said in a daily weather forecast.

“Next week will be mainly similar, with slightly lower temperatures at times, but values will remain largely above normal,” Muller said.

British local distribution zone gas demand, which is primarily used for heating, was forecast at 148 million cubic metres (mcm) for Wednesday, down 31 mcm on the previous forecast.

Britain’s gas system was around 2.7 mcm over-supplied, with supply forecast at 266.9 mcm and demand at around 264.4 mcm, National Grid data showed.

Britain’s gas demand was about 14% lower than the seasonal norm of 307 mcm, the data showed.

Milder temperatures for the time of year across much of Europe have meant gas stock levels have edged up over the past few days, rather than being drawn down as would be expected in winter.

Overall Europe’s gas stores were 83.52% full on Jan. 2 according to the latest data from Gas Infrastructure Europe and have inched up every day since Dec. 27, when they were 83.18% full.

In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract CFI2Zc1 fell by 2.47 euros to 81.10 euros a tonne.
Source: Reuters (Reporting By Susanna Twidale; Editing by Robert Birsel)