Wholesale Gas Prices See Little Change as Low Wind and Nuclear Boost Demand
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Dutch and British wholesale gas prices were little changed on Tuesday morning as demand for gas for power was boosted by low wind and nuclear output amid a heatwave in much of Europe.
The benchmark Dutch front-month contract at the TTF hub was down 0.2 euro at 32.80 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) or $11.17/mmBtu, by 0823 GMT, LSEG data showed.
The Dutch day-ahead contract TRNLTTFD1 was up 0.05 euro at 32.35 euros/MWh.
The British front-month gas price TRGBNBPMc1 was down 0.01 pence at 82.03 pence per therm.
"Gas for power demand rises on (the day-ahead) and the weekend… due to the heat, low wind power generation and reduced French nuclear," LSEG analyst Ulrich Weber said in a daily research note.
Total non-local distribution zone demand in Northwest Europe, which includes demand from power plants, is expected at 1,977 gigawatt hours/day (GWh/d) up 77 GWh/d, LSEG data showed.
A heatwave throughout France has also led to multiple warnings of power reductions at a number of nuclear plants, which rely on river water to cool them.
Four reactors at France's Gravelines nuclear plant were also forced offline by a swarm of jellyfish in their cooling systems.
In Britain, peak wind power generation was expected at 4.9 gigawatts (GW) on Tuesday rising to 6.5 GW on Wednesday, Elexon data showed.
The market is also awaiting a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin who are due to meet in Alaska on Friday to discuss the war in Ukraine.
“The market focuses on the duration and extent of the ongoing heatwave as well as any potential development around the Russia-Ukraine war with hindsight to the Trump-Putin meeting this Friday,” analysts at Mind Energy said in a daily research note.
In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract CFI2Zc1 was down 0.45 euro at 71.92 euros a metric ton.
(Reuters)
