Prices mostly flat amid mixed weather forecasts, balanced market

April 8 - Dutch and British wholesale gas prices were little changed on Monday morning, with lower Norwegian flows and mixed weather forecasts offset by a generally comfortable supply level and a slide in oil prices.

The benchmark front-month contract at the Dutch TTF hub fell by 0.14 euro to 26.65 euros per megawatt hour (MWh).

Gas supply nominations were lower across the board amid some outages in Norway, consultancy Auxilione said in its daily market report.

"With warmer temperatures expected this week the impact should be minimal and we can now clearly see net injections being reported into the storage facilities," they added.

In Europe, gas storage facilities were last seen 59.9% full, up from their end-of-winter season low on March 31 of 58.3%, according to Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE) data.

Meanwhile, oil prices, a wider gauge for market sentiment, fell on Monday on easing Middle East tensions.

Further in, the Dutch day-ahead contract was up 0.20 euros at 26.50 euros/MWh by 0856 GMT, LSEG data showed.

In Britain, the within-day contract was flat at 64.25 pence per therm, while day-ahead contract was up 0.30 pence to 64.50 p/therm.

"Our outlook remains rangebound and we could see a slight uptick today due to the increase in LDZ consumption forecasts," LSEG analyst Wayne Bryan said of the Dutch day-ahead price.

However, strong renewable generation would mitigate against some of this increase, he added.

Local distribution zone (LDZ) consumption, which mostly reflects demand for heating, is forecast higher amid cooler temperatures around normal levels over the coming days, before rising again briefly.

"The best bet for the second half of April is near normal with some cooler-than-normal days and generally unsettled conditions," LSEG meteorologist Georg Mueller said.

"A return of warm and dry weather is not likely," he added.

In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract was down 0.33 euro at 60.25 euros a metric ton. (Reporting by Nora Buli in Oslo; editing by Jason Neely)