The Dutch benchmark is expected to finish the year 40% lower than last year's price.

The Dutch and British gas wholesale prices were not much changed on Wednesday morning as wind power output curbed gas plant demand. However, the benchmark Dutch contract for the front month of 2025 is expected to be around 40% lower than it was at the beginning of the year.

LSEG data shows that the benchmark Dutch front-month contract was up 0.32 euros at 28.12 Euros per megawatt hour or $9.66 /mmBtu at 0904 GMT.

LSEG data shows that this is a 42% drop from the last transaction on December 31, 2020 of 48.40 eur/MWh.

The Dutch benchmark fell despite Europe's?efforts to phase-out remaining Russian gas imports. On December 17, the European Parliament approved?the EU’s plan to phasing out Russian gas imports until?late 2027. This cleared the?penultimate hurdle before the ban is made law.

Prices have fallen partly due to a decline in European demand for gas and an increase in the importation of liquefied gas from the United States. The latter is expected to export record amounts to Europe by 2025.

The Dutch February rate was 27.90 euros/MWh on Wednesday, up 0.42?euro.

The British day-ahead contracts was up 0.70 cents at?75.45 per therm.

The wind energy generated helped offset the demand for gas to heat homes during this cold weather. An outage at Norway's?Troll gas fields also curtailed supply.

Elexon data shows that the peak wind power output for Britain is expected to be 19.1 GW on Wednesday and 20 GW on Friday.

The benchmark contract on the European carbon markets was 0.04 euros lower, at 87.24 euro per metric ton.

(source: Reuters)