Prices steady as mild temperatures curb demand

LONDON, March 28 - Dutch and British wholesale gas prices were stable on Thursday with mild temperatures expected to curb gas demand for heating and strong supplies of liquefied natural gas.

The benchmark front-month contract at the Dutch TTF hub had edged up by 0.30 euros to 27.90 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) by 0841 GMT, while the May contract <TRNLTTFMc2 > had gained 0.2 euro to 28.00 euros/MWh, LSEG data showed.

In Britain, the front-month contract inched up by 0.35 pence to 70.00 p/therm.

“The temperature forecast for Northwest Europe suggests mild weather going forward fluctuating at an average of 10 degrees Celsius,” LSEG analyst Ulrich Weber said in a daily market note.

Mild weather is expected to curb gas demand for heating in Northwest Europe. Local distribution zone (LDZ) demand, which is primarily used for heating, is expect to fall by 267 gigawatt hours a day (GWh/d) for the day-ahead to 2,092 GWh/d, Weber said.

Strong supplies of liquefied natural gas to Europe are expected to continue despite strong Asian LNG prices, said Masanori Odaka, gas and LNG market senior analyst at Rystad Energy.

“Suppliers with U.S.-origin LNG are incentivised to send their shipments to Europe rather than Asia at current prices due to longer shipping distances,” Odaka said.

The drought in the Panama Canal and continued security risks around the Red Sea have resulted in more U.S. cargoes taking the long route to Asia via the Cape of Good Hope.

In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract gained 0.10 euro to 52.53 euros per metric ton. (Reporting by Susanna Twidale; editing by Jason Neely)