UK GAS-Prices rise on cold weather, low wind and firmer fuels markets

British wholesale gas prices rose on Friday, supported by cold weather and low renewables output next week and strong markets for fuels and emissions.

The within-day contract was up 0.90 pence at 57.25 p/therm by 0834 GMT.

The day-ahead gas contract was up 0.25 p at 56.60 p/therm.

Prices were still very sensitive to weather forecasts, which showed some colder temperatures again next week, a trader said.

Firmer prices for liquefied natural gas, coal and emissions also supported the wider gas market, he added.

“High pressure over the northeastern North Atlantic and northern Europe will keep our area under the influence of cold and cloudy air until the end of the next week,” Refinitiv meteorologist Georg Mueller said.

“Persistent weak renewable generation and external fuels are also risks to the upside as are any extensions to GAEL [pipeline] maintenance which has happened several times already,” analysts at Refinitiv said.

Usable wind power output will remain around 3 gigawatts (GW) for most of next week, Elexon data showed.

The June LNG contract for the Japan Korea Marker (JKM) rose $0.35 to $8.05 per million British thermal units (mmbtu) on Wednesday, the trader said.

The European API 2 coal contract for 2022 TRAPI2Yc1 was trading at a year-high of $74.40 per tonne.

The May TRGBNBPMK1 gas contract was up 0.95 p at 51.40 p/therm.

The May gas price at the Dutch TTF hub TRNLTTFMc1 contract rose 0.42 euros to 20.55 euros per megawatt hour.

The benchmark Dec-21 EU carbon contract CFI2Zc1 hit a fresh all-time high of 44.78 euros per tonne on Friday morning, and last traded up 0.49 euros at 44.65 euros per tonne.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Nora Buli in Oslo; editing by Jason Neely)