Jan 18 (Reuters) - British and Dutch gas prices were mostly
lower on Tuesday morning as high volumes of liquefied natural
gas (LNG) and mild forecasts weighed on prices.
The British contract for February delivery was
down 17.00 pence at 180.00 pence per therm by 1015 GMT, while
its Dutch equivalent fell by 2.80 euros to 74.60
euros per megawatt hour (MWh).
"Bearish sentiment is likely to continue coming from solid
LNG send-out projection and soft demand in the next two weeks,"
analysts at Refinitiv said.
Forecasts indicate that the weather both in the UK and in
north-west Europe will warm up in the first half of February
compared to the previous forecast, they added.
LNG shipments should continue to provide much needed supply
all the way to March, a trader said.
Asian spot liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices are expected
to remain soft on muted demand and high supply levels, which
will help to maintain a steady flow of cargoes heading to
Europe.
"Folks are looking at end of winter and start re-pricing
from the still very high price level we have," another trader
said, adding that the risk premium for running out of gas was
gradually reducing.
The British contract for day-ahead delivery was
the only outlier, rising by 3.50 pence to 186.50 pence per
therm.
The British system was under-supplied on Tuesday, with
demand of 338 million cubic metres (mcm) and supply of 317.0
mcm, National Grid data showed.
This is a result of a lower Norwegian imports due to
unplanned outages, Refinitiv gas analysts said.
Capacity at the Nyhamna and Kollsnes processing plants was
cut by a combined 70 mcm/day on Tuesday, cutting flows on the
Langeled pipeline to Britain by 28 mcm/day, they
added.
Flows of Russian gas remain muted as well, with the Polish
section of the Yamal-Europe pipeline still in reverse.
In other markets, the European benchmark December 2022
emissions contract was down by 1.23 euro at 79.35 euros a tonne.
(Reporting by Nora Buli in Oslo; editing by Nina Chestney)