Dutch and British wholesale gas prices edged lower on Friday morning as supply from Norway rose and forecasts for higher wind output in Germany next week curbed demand.

The benchmark Dutch front-month contract at the TTF hub was down 0.90 euro at 34.20 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) or $11.67/mmBtu, by 0847 GMT, LSEG data showed.

The Dutch day-ahead contract was down 0.80 euro at 33.73 euros/MWh

The British day-ahead contract was down 2.85 pence at 82 p/therm.

“Total Norwegian export nominations are up a whopping 57 million cubic metres/day (mcm/d) from yesterday at 317 mcm/d, due to Nyhamna and Kollsnes outages getting resolved,” LSEG analyst Saku Jussila said in a daily research note.

Exports from Norway have been curbed in recent days due to an unplanned outage at the Kollsnes gas processing plant, one of Norway’s biggest energy export facilities.

Wind power is also expected to rise in Germany next week, reducing demand for gas from power plants.

“Wind generation is expected to remain subdued over the weekend, followed by a notable spike on Monday and again toward the end of next week,” analysts at Engie EnergyScan said in a daily research note.

Consultancy Auxilione said Germany’s largest gas storage site Rehden, which accounts for around 18% of the country’s total storage capacity, secured some capacity in auctions yesterday for the upcoming winter.

“Whilst there is plenty of capacity still to sell, recent auctions have shown limited interest. Currently the site holds just 4% of its total capacity and is expected to hit at least 45% ahead of next winter – although last winter it was filled to the max,” Auxilione said.

In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract (CFI2Zc1) was down 0.28 euro at 70.27 euros a metric ton.
Source: Reuters