ritish and Dutch wholesale gas prices were mixed on Thursday as strong flows of liquefied natural gas (LNG) mitigate the expected rise in demand due to cooler weather in Britain, while European storage continues to rise on lower demand.
The British day-ahead contract was 2.75 pence lower at 96.75 pence/therm by 0851 GMT, Refinitiv Eikon data showed.
Temperatures in Britain are seen slightly below normal levels this week and a stronger fall below normal levels is expected next week.
Refinitiv analyst Timothy Crump said in a morning note that the cooler weather in Britain indicated an increase of 8 million cubic meters per day (mcm/d) in local distribution zone (LDZ) consumption in Britain, mainly used for heating and an increase of 7 mcm/d in gas for power demand.
“This increase is met by an increase in LNG sendout which is nominated up 9 mcm/d and 4 mcm/d of increase in flows from Norway,” he added.
Peak UK wind generation is forecast at 11.4 gigawatts (GW) on Thursday and 10.2 GW on Friday, out of total metered capacity of around 22 GW, Elexon data showed.
In Europe, temperatures are forecast to rise over the weekend and drop again below the seasonal norm next week, Refinitiv Eikon data showed.
The benchmark Dutch May price TRNLTTFMc1 edged down by 2.50 euro to 40.55 euros per megawatt hour by 0851 GMT, Refinitiv Eikon data showed.
Concerns are rising among some market players over the unplanned outages in Norway and ongoing strike action pushing back maintenances.
“We’re seeing a big movement in Europe and that’s getting us worried that this extends into other countries,” a European gas trader said, referring to previous strikes in France.
On Monday, those outages were cancelled due to industrial strike action. But the Troll maintenance is rescheduled to start on April 24 and Kollsnes will start on April 26.
Norwegian gas system operator Gassco revised the end date of a planned outage at Dvalin on Thursday, saying the duration of the outage remains uncertain.
In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract CFI2Zc1 edged down by 0.90 euro to 93.55 euros a tonne.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Marwa Rashad; Editing by Alison Williams)