British and Dutch wholesale gas prices rose marginally on Wednesday morning amid an expected drop in wind power generation and as strikes in France continue to impact energy infrastructure operations, including LNG terminals.

The British within-day price was up by 0.50 pence to 102.50 pence per therm by 0820 GMT and the day-ahead contract edged up 0.50 pence to 102.00 p/therm, Refinitiv Eikon data showed.

British gas for power demand is set to rise 19 million cubic metres (mcm) to 45 mcm/day on Thursday to make up for a loss of wind power generation amid lower wind speeds, Refinitiv data showed.

Peak wind power generation is forecast to drop from 18.1 gigawatts (GW) on Wednesday to 12.8 GW on Thursday, according to Elexon data.

However, this will be negated by a 15 mcm drop in demand for heating in Britain, Refinitiv analyst Yuriy Onyshkiv said in a report, forecasting rangebound prices.

Ongoing strike action in France continues to support continental gas prices due to disruptions at import terminals for liquefied natural gas (LNG), he added.

Sendout nominations for French LNG terminal Montoir now indicated a recovery from Saturday, three days later than previously expected, while nominations at the Fos Cavaou terminal showed a seven-day delay to Apr. 19, Onyshkiv said.

The front-month contract at the Dutch TTF hub edged up by 0.23 euros to 43.63 euros per megawatt hour (MWh), Refinitiv data showed.

Europe’s gas storage sites were 55.8% full, at the top of the historic range for the time of year, data from Gas Infrastructure Europe showed.

Meanwhile, the European Union is mulling options to forego Russian LNG, which could curb supplies at a time of rising demand.

In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract fell by 0.40 euro to 97.04 euros per tonne.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Nora Buli in Oslo; editing by Jason Neely)