British and Dutch wholesale gas prices fell on Monday morning as gas storage levels across Europe remained high and on expectations of lower demand from gas plants.

The Dutch day-ahead contract fell by 9 euros to 50 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) by 1016 GMT, while the British day-ahead contract TRGBNBPD1 was down 23 pence at 77 pence/therm.

In the UK, the gas system was oversupplied by 3.3 million cubic metres (mcm), National Grid data showed.

High output from Britain’s wind farms is expected to curb demand for gas from gas-fired power stations over the coming days.

Peak with power output was forecast at 18 gigawatts (GW) for Monday and Tuesday, Elexon data showed.

Demand for gas from power stations in Britain was forecast at 34 mcm a day on Monday, Refinitiv Eikon data showed, 17 mcm lower than previously expected.

High gas stocks in Europe also continued to pressure prices, analysts said.

“Even the drop in temperatures last week did not affect EU gas stocks too much; they continued to fill up, 95.17% full on average on 5 November,” Engie EnergyScan analysts said.

The benchmark front-month Dutch contract TRNLTTFMc1 was down 7.82 euros at 113.18 euros/MWh.

However, analysts at Refinitiv said there are still upside risks to prices this winter “mostly expected from harsh weather scenarios and unplanned outages that could limit supply once again triggering a rally on an overly sensitive market.”

Eastbound gas flows via the Yamal-Europe pipeline to Poland from Germany and gas flows from Russia to Europe via Ukraine were steady on Monday morning, operator data showed.

In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract CFI2Zc1 was up 0.50 euros at 76.86 euros a tonne.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Susanna Twidale; editing by Nina Chestney)