London — Prompt British wholesale gas prices edged lower on Wednesday as oversupply weighed on the market.
* Within-day gas price down 0.25 pence at 30.75 pence per therm by 0911 GMT.
* Day-ahead gas price down 0.80 pence at 31.40 p/therm.
* Traders said expectations of weaker demand for gas from power plants on Thursday combined with slightly higher imports from Norway left the market oversupplied, denting prices.
* Gas system oversupplied by 17.2 million cubic metres (mcm) with demand forecast at 193.8 mcm and flows at 211 mcm/day, National Grid data showed.
* Analysts at Refinitiv forecast gas for power demand would fall by 7 mcm on Thursday.
* However, the analysts said cooler weather could lift demand towards the end of the week.
* “Current above normal temperatures are expected to decline slightly below seasonal normal towards end of the week while the weather is forecast to turn warmer over the weekend and through next week,” Refinitiv analysts said in a daily research note.
* Further out on the curve prices also slipped.
* June contract down 0.14 p at 31.90 p/therm.
* July contract down 0.05 at 32.55 p/therm.
* Day-ahead gas price at the Dutch TTF hub down 0.02 euro at 13.78 euros per megawatt hour.
* Benchmark Dec-19 EU carbon contract up 0.03 euros at 25.92 per tonne.
– Reuters