UK GAS-Prices rise on low wind output, outages

LONDON, July 21 (Reuters) - British wholesale gas prices
rose on Wednesday as outages at facilities on the UK continental
shelf (UKCS) reduced flows and wind power output remained very
low.

* The day-ahead contract was up 1.1 pence at 90
p/therm by 0855 GMT.

* Gas for immediate delivery was 0.25 pence
higher at
88.50 p/therm.

* "Domestic UK Continental Shelf production remains curbed
by
extended outages at Bacton SEAL and Cygnus field that are now
expected to end by the weekend. This morning an unplanned
maintenance at Barrow North continued cutting the live flows at
the terminal," analysts at Refinitiv said in a daily research
note.

* Peak wind generation is forecast at 1 gigawatt (GW) on
Wednesday
and 1.1 GW on Thursday, out of total metered capacity of around
20 GW, Elexon data showed.

* Low wind output typically increases demand for gas from
power
plants.

* The August British gas contract rose by 0.45
p to
88.20 p/therm.

* However, Britain's gas system was over-supplied by 10.3
mcm,
with demand forecast at 128.5 mcm, more than 30 mcm below the
seasonal norm, National Grid data showed.

* A heatwave in Britain is expected to last until the
weekend.

* An agreement between the United States and Germany over
the Nord
Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia is expected on Wednesday,
sources said, easing concerns over long term supply to Europe.

* "The construction of the pipeline could be completed in
September. This may prevent possible gas shortages during the
upcoming winter season," said ABN Amro senior energy economist
Hans van Cleef.

* "European gas prices are still very high. In the short
term,
there does not seem to be much downward pressure to be expected
on prices either. The demand for gas remains strong and the
inventory build-up is slow," he added.

* The month-ahead price at the Dutch TTF hub
was 0.50
euro higher at 35.80 euros per megawatt hour.

* The benchmark Dec-21 EU carbon contract was up
0.54
euro at 51.75 euros per tonne.

* The benchmark Dec-21 British carbon contract was
0.50
pounds higher at 43.50 pounds per tonne.
(Reporting by Peter Hobson; editing by Nina Chestney)