UK GAS-Prices fall on high imports but demand remains strong

April 13 (Reuters) - British wholesale gas prices dropped by
almost 3% on Tuesday morning on high imports, though losses were
kept in check by strong demand because of unseasonally cold
weather.

* The within-day contract was down 1.65 pence
at
56.10 p/therm by 0739 GMT.

* The day-ahead contract was down 1.5 pence at
55.75
p/therm.

* The British gas system was oversupplied by 4 million cubic
metres (mcm), with demand forecast at 277 mcm - above the
seasonal norm - and supply at 281 mcm/day, National Grid data
showed.

* The oversupply was driven by stronger sendout of liquefied
natural gas (LNG) and Norwegian imports via the Vesterled
pipeline, which adjusted higher by 8mcm/d to 14mcm/d, Refinitiv
analysts said.

* Russian gas flows via Mallnow in Poland were also expected
to be
fully restored by Wednesday after an unplanned outage this week.

* With Mallnow flows restored and new LNG cargoes arrivals,
Refinitiv analysts said they expect the northwest European
market to become less tight than recent days.

* Wind power was weak on Tuesday, with peak generation
forecast at
0.7 gigawatts (GW), though it was expected to increase to 1.7 GW
on Wednesday, Elexon data showed.

* Temperatures will remain low in the United Kingdom for the
next
several days, Refinitiv's weather forecast predicted, but will
rise slowly next week to near or above seasonal norms.

* Dutch wholesale gas for day-ahead delivery on
the
TTF hub fell by 0.55 euros to 20.25 euros per megawatt hour.

* The May TTF contract fell 0.15 euros to 19.58
euros
per megawatt hour.

* The benchmark Dec-21 EU carbon contract was down
0.23
euros at 44.25 euros a tonne.
(Reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin
Editing by David Goodman
)