LONDON, March 23 (Reuters) - British and Dutch wholesale gas prices rose on Wednesday morning as wind power remains below seasonal normal levels and the European Commission gears up to propose minimum gas storage levels.
The British gas price for day-ahead delivery rose by 14 pence to 234 pence per therm by 1012 GMT, while the within-day contract was up 14 pence at 236 p/therm.
In the Dutch gas market, the day-ahead gas contract was 1.58 euros higher at 100.43 euros per megawatt hour (MWh).
The Dutch front-month contract rose by 4.15 euros to 103.15 euro/MWh.
The European Commission will propose legislation on Wednesday requiring EU countries to fill their gas storage to at least 90% of capacity ahead of each winter, according to a draft document.
To build up a supply buffer for the next winter, Brussels will require EU countries to fill storage facilities at least 90% by Nov. 1 each year, with intermediate targets applying in the months before.
Traders said the target will be difficult to meet even in periods when demand is down.
On Wednesday, wind power generation in Britain and Germany is expected to be below the seasonal norm for the rest of this week, raising gas-for-power demand.
The current warm spell of weather is forecast to end next week when temperatures fall to more seasonal levels, Refinitiv Eikon data shows.
On the supply side, Russian gas deliveries to Europe through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline across the Baltic Sea dipped slightly on Wednesday, while gas continued to flow eastwards from Germany into Poland along the Yamal-Europe pipeline.
Norwegian exports to Britain have increased, offsetting reduced UK domestic production due to an outage.
In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract edged up by 0.22 euro to 80.89 euros a tonne. (Reporting by Nina Chestney)