LONDON: British wholesale gas prices rose on Wednesday morning as lower imports left the gas system undersupplied and weather forecasts showed colder temperatures.
Gas for immediate delivery rose by 0.8 pence to 43.80 pence per therm by 0957 GTM, while the day-ahead contract gained 0.4 pence to 43.55 pence/therm.
The Met Office forecast peak daily temperatures in the south of the country above the seasonal norm at 13 degrees Celsius, but would drop by a few degrees on Friday and Saturday. The gas system is 9 mcm undersupplied with demand forecast at 285 million cubic metres (mcm) and flows expected to be 276 mcm, National Grid data shows.
“The drop in InterconnectorUK imports from continental Europe to 15 mcm/day, half of yesterday’s levels, left the gas system short,” analysts at Thomson Reuters said.
Imports from Norway were down by 4 mcm to 123 mcm/day as production capacity was curbed by a new outage at the Aasgard field. Further along the curve, contract for gas delivery in January was 0.7 pence higher at 44.00 pence/therm.
In Britain’s power market, the UK baseload day-ahead price rose by 1.95 pounds to 46.25 pounds per megawatt-hour (MWh). In the Netherlands, the day-ahead gas price at the TTF hub firmd 0.02 euro to 16.50 euros/MWh.
In the European carbon market, the benchmark Dec. 2016 contract gained 0.07 euro to 4.57 euros a tonne. Oil prices slipped on Wednesday on doubts that promised production cuts by OPEC and Russia would be deep enough to end a supply overhang.
