Prices of gas in Europe fall on the back of stronger Norwegian supply and wind power forecasts
The Dutch and British gas wholesale prices fell on Friday as the supply from Norway increased and forecasts of higher wind output next week in Germany curbed demand.
LSEG data shows that the benchmark Dutch front-month contract was 34.20 euros per Megawatt Hour (MWh), or $11.67/mmBtu at 0847 GMT. This is a 0.90 euro decrease.
The Dutch day-ahead contracts was down 0.80 euros at 33.73 Euros/MWh
The British day-ahead contracts was down 2.85 cents at 82p/therm.
In a daily note, LSEG analyst Saku Jussila stated that "Total Norwegian Export Nominations are up a whopping 57 mcm/day (mcm/d), compared to yesterday's 317 mcm/d. This is due to the Nyhamna & Kollsnes Outages being resolved."
A recent unplanned outage of the Kollsnes Gas Processing Plant, Norway's largest energy export facility, has curtailed Norway's exports.
Next week, Germany is expected to see a rise in wind power. This will reduce the demand for gas generated by power plants.
In a daily report, Engie EnergyScan analysts said that wind generation was expected to be subdued this weekend. This will be followed by an increase on Monday.
Auxilione, a consultancy, said that Rehden in Germany, the largest gas storage facility, which represents around 18% the total storage capacity of the country, had secured capacity for the winter through auctions held yesterday.
Recent auctions showed limited interest, even though there was plenty of space to be sold. Auxilione stated that the site currently holds only 4% of the total capacity. It is expected to reach at least 45% by next winter, although it was full last winter.
The benchmark contract on the European carbon markets was down by 0.28 euros at 70.27 euro per metric ton.
(source: Reuters)
