Dutch and British wholesale gas prices moved in a narrow range slightly to the upside early on Thursday as temperatures are set to turn cooler in the coming days and as Norwegian exports ramp up following unplanned maintenance.

The benchmark Dutch front-month contract at the TTF hub (TRNLTTFMc1) was up 0.42 at 32.42 euros per megawatt hour, or $11.14/mmBtu, by 0918 GMT, LSEG data showed.

The British front-month gas price (TRGBNBPMc1) was up 0.72 pence to 80.85 pence per therm.

The British day-ahead contract (TRGBNBPD1) was up 1.75 pence at 80.10 p/therm.

“No change to the fundamentals with temperatures remaining steady in the latest forecast for the weeks ahead and the Commitment of Traders report issued yesterday showed a very small net gain on length held by Investment Funds, after weeks of steady decline,” consultancy Auxilione said in a morning note.

“In the coming days, the summer delivery period will come to an end and we enter the winter delivery period where we can start to see more volatility in relation to weather impacts on market prices,” Auxilione said.

Total Norwegian imports are up 21 million cubic meters per day, as planned maintenance is easing out at fields delivering to the Karsto gas processing plant. Another 16 mcm/d increase in total Norwegian production is expected on Friday, said LSEG analyst Saku Jussila.

In Northwest Europe, non-local distribution zone demand, which refers to gas demand for power generation, is forecast to rise by 70 gigawatt hours per day on the day ahead at 2035 GWh/d due to plummeting wind speeds, LSEG data showed.

Europe’s gas stores are 82% full, data from Gas Infrastructure Europe showed.

In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract (CFI2Zc1) was down 0.56 at 76.46 euros a metric ton.
Source: Reuters