Prices in tight range with strong LNG flows, warmer weather forecast
LONDON, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Dutch and British wholesale gas prices traded in a narrow range on Thursday morning, with market participants expecting further downside on forecasts for warmer weather and strong flows of liquefied natural gas (LNG).
The benchmark front-month contract at the Dutch TTF hub was down 0.50 euros at 44.90 euros per megawatt hour (MWh), or $13.80 /mmBtu, by 0919 GMT, LSEG data showed.
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The Dutch March contract was down 0.54 euros at 45.46 euros/MWh.
In Britain, the month-ahead contract rose 0.15 pence to 113.5 p/therm.
Prices have retreated over the last week after hitting a 14-month high above 50 euros/MWh earlier in January.
"The rebound in Europe LNG imports seems to initiate a bearish mood, which offsets the fears that arose from the halt of Russian gas flows through Ukraine," analysts at Engie's EnergyScan said in a daily note.
Temperatures across the continent are expected to dip on Friday, but forecasts for January 15-23 have been adjusted up, signalling warmer weather, LSEG data showed.
Heating demand for the day ahead is expected to rise accordingly by 362 gigawatt hours per day to 3024 GWh/d while demand for working days next week is seen up 104 GWh/d at 3414 GWh/d, LSEG analyst Saku Jussila said.
An unplanned outage at Norway's Hammerfest LNG plant has been extended by 10 days to Jan. 19
Europe’s gas stores are 68.83% full, data from Gas Infrastructure Europe showed.
In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract was up 0.05 euro at 72.22 euros a metric ton.
(Reporting By Marwa Rashad; editing by Kirsten Donovan)