Nov 18 (Reuters) - European and British wholesale gas prices
fell on Thursday morning, which market participants say is more
of a correction in a volatile market than a fundamentally driven
move.
* The British within-day gas contract was down
19.50
pence at 2.145 pounds per therm by 1116 GMT, and the day-ahead
contract dropped 7.00 pence to 2.15 pounds/therm.
* Dutch day-ahead gas contract was down 3.20
euros at
90.80 euros per megawatt hour.
* Short-term fundamentals were bearish, with lower heating
demand
for the rest of the week, strong wind speeds reducing the need
for gas in power generation, and strong Norwegian gas flows,
analysts at Refinitiv said.
* Meanwhile, the benchmark Dutch front-month contract
fell 3.00 euros to 92.50 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) and
having traded as high 101.60 euros/MWh on Wednesday.
* Gas prices rose this week after Germany's energy regulator
suspended the approval process for Nord Stream 2, a major new
pipeline built to bring Russian gas into Europe.
* "Since the fundamental picture has not changed
drastically, it
is more a technical correction after the sharp rise on the back
of the Nord Stream 2 news," an energy analyst said.
* "The December contract had trouble holding above the 100
EUR/MWh
before it started to fall," he said, adding the drop in Brent
oil also impacted the magnitude of the correction.
* Oil prices slid to six-week lows on Thursday before
recovering
some ground, as China said it was moving to tap reserves.
* No single driver explained a move lower by 10 euros since
yesterday, a trader said, adding the market was "just extremely
volatile and nervous".
* In Britain, the December contract fell 2.01
pence
to 2.37 pounds per therm.
* Russian gas flows to Europe via Yamal, which runs through
Belarus and Poland, were slightly lower day on day.
* In other markets the benchmark Dec-21 EU carbon
contract was down 0.58 euros at 66.58 euros/tonne.
(Reporting by Nora Buli; Editing by Susanna Twidale)
National Grid (NG.)
