Home / Oil & Energy / General Energy News / UK GAS-Prompt prices fall with LNG rising, swelling Dutch gas spread

UK GAS-Prompt prices fall with LNG rising, swelling Dutch gas spread

British prompt wholesale gas prices fell on Wednesday with supplies boosted by the distribution of gas from liquefied natural gas (LNG) from terminals in anticipation of the arrival of more cargoes, widening the discount to Dutch gas prices.

* The day-ahead contract fell 1.85 pence to 25.25 pence per therm by 0740 GMT.

* The within-day contract was yet to trade.

* Britain’s gas system was a touch oversupplied with demand forecast at 174.0 million cubic metres (mcm) and supply seen at 181.1 mcm, National Grid data showed.

* Supplies were boosted by a 13 mcm increase in gas sent out from the Isle of Grain terminal which is expecting two LNG tankers to discharge by Oct. 11.

* In addition, some market players are withdrawing gas from medium-range storage to export it to the Continent, where prices become more expensive on Tuesday.

* “Withdrawals and higher sendout are also capturing wider arbitrage to TTF / ZEE (Dutch and Belgian gas markets) as these hubs rose sharply yesterday due to substantial loss of Norwegian gas,” Refinitiv gas analysts said in a daily note.

* Priced in million British thermal units (mmBtu), the British Day ahead gas price is about 30 cents cheaper at 3.24 mmBtu compared to $3.54 for the Dutch day-ahead contract.

* The British and Dutch markets are being impacted by Norwegian outages with about 65 mcm-worth of gas from Norway coming back onstream from maintenance on Thursday.

* Refinitiv gas analysts estimate a further 70 mcm from Norway will be back between Sept. 28 an Oct. 2.

* The return to full production of the British Culzean gas field however has been patchy and flows continue to be impacted, according to regulatory filings.

* On the demand side, falling wind generation has boosted gas-for-power demand but residential consumption remains stable at about 72 mcm due to clement weather this week.

* Wind generation is seen at 4.8 gigawatts on Wednesday out of 12 GW metred capacity compared to 9.9 gigawatts on Tuesday but should rise again to 8.6 GW by Thursday.

* Britain’s October contract fell 0.15 pence to 32.00 p/therm.

* The Dutch day-ahead gas price fell 0.15 euro to 11.00 euros per megawatt hour.

* The TTF October contract fell 0.22 euro to 12.13 euros per megawatt hour.

* The benchmark Dec-19 EU carbon contract fell 0.26 euro to 25.28 euros per tonne.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Sabina Zawadzki; Editing by Alexander Smith)

Recent Videos

Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide Online Daily Newspaper on Hellenic and International Shipping