NBP wholesale gas prices rose in value in reaction to an undersupplied gas system Thursday morning as once again storage withdrawals were needed to balance the system.
National Grid recorded physical flows 7 million cubic meters below forecast demand at 08:00 am UK time, however the system had flipped slightly long after the Holford medium-range storage facility began to send gas into the system at a rate of 13 million cu m/day.
At 10:00, National Grid estimated demand for the day at 165 million cu m with physical flows higher at 166 million cu m, leaving the system with a slight surplus of gas, however spot prices have increased in early trading.
Within-day rose by over a penny to be assessed at 43.75 pence/therm at 11:00, up from the previous close of 43.20 p/th, with day-ahead climbing 0.5 p to 43.50 p/th.
The front-month September contract continued to rise and was seen trading at 43.75 p/th.
Demand for UK gas from continental Europe has increased as the NBP day- ahead contract closed at a discount to the equivalent ZEE contract Wednesday for the first time in over two weeks.
IUK nominations for exports were at 20 million cu m at 10:00, up 2 million cu m from Wednesday and 3 million cu m higher than the daily average so far in August.
Norwegian gas imports remain low at a mere 29 million cu m according to Gassco as flows into Germany have recovered after maintenance on the Emden EMS metering station ended Thursday morning, allowing for extra flows from Norway into Germany.
Imports from the Netherlands continue at zero with annual maintenance works on the Bacton BBL pipeline continuing until Saturday morning.
LNG throughput from the South Hook LNG terminal recovered slightly to 32 million cu m, however, both the Isle of Grain and Dragon facilities continue to hold onto stocks ahead of the higher demand winter period.
UK gas production nominations are unchanged from Wednesday at 84 million cu m according to Platts unit Bentek.
The NBP curve was also seen trading higher than the previous close prices with the firmer spot market and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine continuing to provide support.
Winter 14 was seen trading at 59.15 p/th at 11:00, a gain of 0.40 p/th from the close, with Summer 15 up by a similar amount to 54.725 p/th.
