Dutch and British wholesale gas prices continued to trade in a narrow range on Wednesday morning, as demand for heating rose due to cooler weather while gas for power demand declined.

The benchmark Dutch front-month contract at the TTF hub was down 0.08 euro at 31.30 euros per megawatt hour (MWh), or $10.78/mmBtu, by 0859 GMT, LSEG data showed.

The Dutch December contract (TRNLTTFMc2) was down 0.37 euro at 31.55 euros/MWh.

The British November gas price (TRGBNBPMc2) was down 0.65 pence at 80.00 pence per therm.

Local distribution zone (LDZ) demand, which includes heating demand, is expected to rise by 191 gigawatt hour per day on the day ahead as temperatures are expected to stay below normal levels, LSEG analyst Ulrich Weber said in a daily research note.

“On the other hand we see a decline of similar magnitude from non-LDZ, mostly gas for power, as wind power generation is slightly improving,” he added.

The non-LDZ demand forecast is down 171 GWh/d at 2438 GWh/d on the day ahead, LSEG data showed.

Peak wind power in Britain was forecast at 11.13 gigawatts on Wednesday rising to 19.15 GW on Thursday, Elexon data showed.

Total Norwegian export nominations rise by 34 million cubic meters per day to 318 mcm/d, after outages at the Njord gas platform and higher impact work at Troll gas field ended.

Russian Energy Minister Sergei Tsivilev said his country plans to increase LNG exports to China from the Arctic LNG 2 and Sakhalin 2 projects.

Analysts and Engie’s EnergyScan said that this could contribute to maintain downward pressure on European gas prices.

In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract (CFI2Zc1) was down 0.95 euro at 74.77 euros a metric ton.
Source: Reuters