Prices firm on cold spell, low wind and Norway outages
EUROPE-GAS/:EUROPE GAS-Prices firm on cold spell, low wind and Norway outages
Dec 11 (Reuters) - Dutch and British wholesale gas prices were a touch firmer on Wednesday morning as an ongoing cold spell and low wind supported demand and unplanned outages curtailed some Norwegian supply.
The benchmark front-month contract at the Dutch TTF hub was up 0.15 euro at 45.70 euros per megawatt hour (MWh), or $14.08/mmbtu, at 0911 GMT.
The Dutch day-ahead contract was up 0.30 euro at 45.80 euros/MWh.
In Britain, the day-ahead contract gained 0.55 pence to 113.25 pence per therm.
"Our outlook for today is for prices to perhaps come under a little downside pressure but prices will not fall too far given the upcoming cold spell and the need to remain competitive with Asia for spot LNG," LSEG analyst Wayne Bryan said.
Temperatures are still expected below normal until Dec. 24 for all but five days, the exceptions being Dec. 15-20, he added.
A lull in wind power generation is also increasing gas demand for electricity generation.
Peak wind power output in Britain will drop from 5.7 gigawatts (GW) on Wednesday to 3.2 GW on Thursday, according to Elexon data.
Unplanned outages in Norwegian production added some upward pressure to prices, analysts said.
Compressor failures at the Kollsnes processing plant and the Aasgard field are curbing Norwegian supply by 17.6 million cubic metres (mcm) per day until early next week, data from infrastructure operator Gassco showed.
Gas flows to Europe from Russia remained stable. Russian supplier Gazprom said it would send 42.4 mcm of gas to Europe via Ukraine on Wednesday, the same volume as on Tuesday.
However, milder weather forecasts for the second half of December and rising German wind power output from next week could put some pressure on prices, analysts at Engie EnergyScan said in a morning note.
In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract was up 1.04 euros at 69.22 euros per metric ton.
(Reporting by Nora Buli in Oslo. Editing by Mark Potter)
Catch all the Business News , Corporate news , Breaking News Events and Latest News Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates.
MoreLess
First Published:11 Dec 2024, 02:58 PM IST
- Top Gainers
- Top Losers
- 52 Week High