EUROPE GAS-Prices rise on LNG, storage concerns
June 13 (Reuters) - Dutch and British gas prices rose to their highest level since June 3 on Thursday morning, as the market remained cautious of outages impacting liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities and the status of Europe's efforts to refill storages for next winter.
The benchmark front-month contract at the Dutch TTF hub was up by 1.71 euro at 36.77 euros per megawatt hour (MWh), or 11.64 USD/mmBtu, by 0845 GMT, according to LSEG data.
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In the British market, the day-ahead contract was up 3.75 pence at 87.50 pence per therm and the front-month contract was up 3.11 pence at 86.50 p/therm.
"The market is still on its toes, and European fundamentals are not driving the prices currently, but rather it seems that the Asian spot LNG prices are deciding the direction," LSEG analyst Saku Jussila said.
Any outage news from Norwegian or British production fields would also add to the bullish sentiment, Jussila added.
Production at Australian Wheatstone gas facility, a key supplier to Asian customers, is stopped for repairs which are expected to last several weeks, operator Chevron's said on Thursday.
Europe competes with Asian buyers for LNG supply in a global market, while demand from the latter is currently buoyed by a heatwave in the region.
Meanwhile, injections into EU gas storage sites have slowed throughout the last few weeks, consultancy Auxilione said in a daily market report.
While filling levels remain "impressive" for the time of year, there will be "more eyes watching progress as we head towards next winter", they added.
European gas storage facilities were last seen 72.33% full and are now in line with their 2023 levels, which they previously led by as much as 6 percentage point, according to Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE) data.
"Europe is in a good supply situation here and now, but looking towards the coming winter or further ahead, the current situation offers some concerns," analysts at Energi Danmark said.
The prospect of a potential loss of remaining Russian piped gas supplies to Europe added to the wider pressure, market observers highlighted.
In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract inched up by 0.42 euro to 71.16 euros a metric ton.
(Reporting by Nora Buli in Oslo; Editing by Rashmi Aich)