UK GAS-Prices firm as colder weather seen later in week

British wholesale gas prices rose on Tuesday as colder weather was expected later this week, although the system was well supplied.

* The day-ahead gas price rose 0.45 pence to 57.80 pence per therm by 0840 GMT.

* The within-day gas price was yet to trade.

* The gas system was oversupplied by 12.6 million cubic metres (mcm), with demand forecast at 282.2 mcm and flows seen at 294.8, National Grid data showed.

* British gas production and flows from Norway were stable, with an absence of major outages keeping supply robust.

* This offset a 6 mcm reduction in flows from liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals, although at 42 mcm, supply is still high compared with most of last year.

* Three LNG tankers are expected to arrive in Britain by Monday, with another moored but yet to unload.

* Demand for gas from power stations is curbed by high output from wind farms, despite several nuclear plants being offline.

* Peak wind power generation is forecast at 9.8 gigawatts for Tuesday and 9.9 for Wednesday, compared with a metred capacity of 12 GW, according to Elexon data.

* Seven of Britain’s 15 nuclear reactors are out of action, taking 3.8 GW of capacity offline.

* Temperatures are expected to fall from more than 7 degrees Celsius on Tuesday to around 2-3 degrees Celsius by Friday until the end of the month.

* This helped to boost prices along the curve, with the price for the working day next week up 0.7 pence at 60.10 p/therm.

* The February contract rose 0.47 p to 60.00 p/therm.

* The day-ahead gas price at the Dutch TTF hub rose 0.1 euro to 21.48 euros per megawatt hour.

* The benchmark Dec-19 EU carbon contract was up 0.02 euro at 22.57 euros per tonne.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Sabina Zawadzki, editing by Louise Heavens)