Jan 20 (Reuters) - British wholesale gas prices rose on
Wednesday morning, buoyed by a an expected fall in temperatures
to below normal levels from Thursday that will lift demand for
heating.
* The within-day contract rose by 4.78 pence to
58.78
p/therm by 0920 GMT.
* The day-ahead contract was up 3.25 p at 59.00
p/therm.
* Prices rose sharply in response to colder weather
forecasts, a
trader said, arguing the gains were an over-reaction.
* The day-ahead outlook was bullish, with temperatures
dropping
below normal from Thursday and planned maintenance on the SEGAL
pipeline system, Refinitiv analyst Xun Peng said in a morning
note.
* Refinitiv raised its day-ahead heating demand forecast for
Britain by 40 mcm to 242 mcm/day, although gas-for-power demand
was corrected 20 mcm lower to 34 mcm/day.
* Average temperatures in Britain would halve day-on-day to
4.7
degrees Celsius on Thursday, 4.4C below a previous forecast, and
fall to average 0.9C at the weekend.
* Britain’s gas market was forecast to be over-supplied by
13
million cubic metres (mcm), with demand at 298.5 mcm and supply
at 311.5 mcm/day, National Grid data showed.
* Peak wind power generation was forecast to rise from 9.7
gigawatts (GW) on Wednesday to 14.1 GW on Thursday, out of total
metered capacity of nearly 18 GW, Elexon data showed.
* Strong wind output typically reduces demand for gas in
power
generation.
* The February contract was up 2.45 p at 60.40
p/therm.
* The February contract at the Dutch TTF hub
was up
0.98 euro at 21.40 per megawatt hour.
* The benchmark Dec-21 EU carbon contract was up
0.11
euro at 33.20 euros per tonne.
(Reporting by Nora Buli in Oslo; editing by Nina Chestney)