UK GAS-Prices fall on lower demand, oversupply

LONDON, July 14 (Reuters) -

British wholesale gas prices fell on Wednesday, with
demand below the seasonal norm and the UK system over-supplied.

* The day-ahead contract was down 1.8 pence at
85.00
pence per therm by 0844 GMT. The within-day contract
was down 0.35 pence at 85.65 p/therm.

* The UK gas system was over-supplied, with supply forecast
at
136.9 million cubic metres (mcm) and demand at 128.9 mcm, around
34 mcm below the seasonal norm, National Grid data showed.

* Supply from the UK continental shelf (UKCS) rose after an
unplanned outage at Barrow North terminal ended.

* "We may see a ramp up in UKCS production tomorrow due to
the end
of ongoing maintenance at Bacton Seal and Bacton Perenco," said
Refinitiv gas analyst Iryna Sereda.

* But, imports of gas from Norway were lower and Russian
flows via
the Nord Stream pipeline are at zero due to a planned outage
scheduled between July 13-23.

* "This event, although expected, could affect the schedule
for
injecting gas into European gas storages. The level of
utilisation there currently stands at 51%, which is almost 16
percentage points below the five-year seasonal average," said
Dmitry Loukashov, head of oil and gas research at VTB Capital.

* Peak wind generation is forecast at 5.3 gigawatts (GW) on
Wednesday, rising to 6.3 GW on Thursday, Elexon data showed.
Higher wind output typically reduces demand for gas to generate
power.

* The August British gas contract was 2.85
pence
lower at 84.90 p/therm.

* The month-ahead Dutch gas contract was 0.50
euro
lower at 34.70 euros per megawatt hour.

* The benchmark Dec-21 EU carbon contract was 0.85
euro
down at 52.00 euros a tonne.

* The carbon market could move after the European Commission
proposes measures this morning to help it reduce net greenhouse
gas emissions.

* "If the official proposal comes in line with the recent
leaks,
which we believe should be mostly priced in by now, the bullish
momentum might be exhausted," said analysts at Refinitiv.
"Instead, we could see a typical 'buy the rumour, sell the fact'
behaviour," they said.

* The benchmark Dec-21 British carbon contract was
0.71
pounds lower at 42.75 pounds per tonne.

(Reporting by Peter Hobson; editing by Nina Chestney)