EUROPE GAS-Prices fall as supply swells, temperatures set to rise

LONDON, Jan 20 (Reuters) - British and Dutch gas prices fell
on Thursday morning on strong supplies of Norwegian gas and
liquefied natural gas (LNG) and with temperatures set to rise.

The British contract for day-ahead delivery was
down by 7.00 pence to 173.00 pence per therm at 1003 GMT.

The Dutch equivalent day-ahead contract fell by
3.32 euros to 70.28 euros per megawatt hour (MWh)

Imports to Britain from Norway through the Langeled pipeline
were forecast at 68 million cubic metres (mcm) per day on
Thursday, up 7 mcm from the previous day, Refinitiv Eikon data
showed.

The impact of an outage that had curbed Norwegian gas
supplies were downgraded by Norwegian gas system operator
Gassco.

Total exports from Norway were nominated at 333 mcm/day, up
13 mcm from the day before, the Refinitiv data showed.

Four more tankers also declared Northwest Europe and Britain
as destinations on Thursday.

However, analysts said there are still concerns about
Russian supply, when flows will begin through the new Nord
Stream 2 pipeline and fears that escalating tensions on the
Russia/Ukraine border would limit price falls.

"Tensions between Russia and Ukraine and the impact on the
Nord Stream 2 regulatory process are mitigating downside risk
and will continue to be a bullish factor," said Kaushal Ramesh,
Rystad Energy senior gas markets analyst.

Gas supplies via the Yamal-Europe pipeline, which sends
Russian gas west into Europe, have increased from Germany to
Poland, running in a reverse mode eastward for a 31st
consecutive day, data from German network operator Gascade
showed on Thursday.

The Dutch February gas price was down by 2.35
euros at 71.15 euros/MWh.

In the European carbon market, the benchmark December 2022
contract was down 1.15 euros at 80.94 euros/tonne.

(Reporting By Susanna Twidale; editing by Nina Chestney)