LONDON: British wholesale gas prices went up slightly on Friday morning due to lower supplies from Norway, traders said. The British day-ahead gas price was up 0.40 pence at 41.00 pence per therm at 0858 GMT. The within-day contract was 0.40 pence higher at 41.30 p/therm. “Much like earlier this week, the market seems to have opened a bit higher on Norway flows,” a gas trader said. Flows from Norway to Britain have fallen. Supplies through the Langeled pipeline are at 63 million cubic metres (mcm) from 71 mcm on Thursday, while Vesterled flows are only at 11 mcm. InterconnectorUK is nominated for 15 mcm of exports to continental Europe on Friday, 5 mcm higher than Thursday.
Despite that, the system was oversupplied by almost 13 mcm, with demand forecast at around 240 mcm and flows at 253 mcm/day, National Grid data shows. The Dutch day-ahead gas price at the TTF hub was flat at 15.73 euros per megawatt hour (MWh). “For the coming week, more mild weather should help a continued softening of prices at north-west Europe hubs,” said analysts at consultancy Energy Aspects. “Prompt prices have gone easily through the fuel switch trigger of 17.1 euros/MWh and are now moving towards the lower fuel switch trigger of 15.18 euros/MWh. We think that without another cold snap, there will be little fundamentally to keep prices from settling at that lower level over the next couple of weeks,” they added. Benchmark Dec-17 EU carbon contract inched down by 0.01 euro to 5.14 euros a tonne.
