UK GAS-Prices rise on under-supply, oil market gains

13 Jun, 2019

Within-day gas price up 1.47 pence at 30.60 pence per therm by 0855 GMT.

Day-ahead gas price up 0.55 p at 29.75 p therm.

"Under-supply is lifting the prompt and the oil news is having more impact supporting the curve," a gas trader said.

Oil prices surged as much as 4pc on Thursday after a suspected attack on two tankers in the Gulf of Oman near Iran and the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of global oil consumption passes.

Forward gas contracts are sensitive to swings in oil markets due to a long-standing practice which fixes some long-term gas contracts to crude prices.

UK gas system under-supplied by 14.6 million cubic meters (mcm) with demand forecast at 220 mcm and flows at 205.4 mcm/day, National Grid data showed.

Traders said a drop in wind power output expected on Friday led to anticipation of higher demand for gas.

Peak wind power generation is forecast at 10 gigawatts (GW) on Thursday, falling to 5.5 GW on Friday, National Grid data showed.

Further out on the curve, prices also rose.

July contract up 0.56 p at 28.48 p/therm.

Winter 2019 contract up 0.50 at 52.70 p/therm.

Day-ahead gas price at the Dutch TTF hub up 0.05 euro at 11.25 euros per megawatt hour.

Benchmark Dec-19 EU carbon contract up 0.11 euro at 24.93 euros per tonne.

Copyright Reuters, 2019

Read Comments