Prices fall amid high storage levels, low demand

28 Jun, 2019

* Gas for immediate delivery was down 0.90 pence at 23.50 pence per therm at 0807 GMT.

* The July contract, which expires on June 30, fell by 1.05 pence to 23.05 p/therm, a fresh 10-year low.

* "There is plenty of gas around. Wind is expected to be stronger this weekend and into early next week and there isn't much demand," a UK gas trader said.

* European gas storage levels are nearly 71 percent full, data from Gas Infrastructure Europe shows.

* Consultancy Energy Aspects forecasts a gas storage surplus of around 25 billion cubic metres (bcm) by July 5.

* "That would leave Europe with a massive 13 bcm of surplus gas that will not find a home in storage before the end of the season, as storage will hit full capacity at 98 bcm," the analysts said.

* "With strong renewable generation likely to remain a headwind to the power sector absorbing incremental supply, prices are set to continue their descent, seeking more demand-side response from the power sector," they added.

* Peak wind generation is forecast at around 5.5 gigawatts (GW) on Saturday from 5.3 GW on Friday, Elexon data shows.

* "We expect wind speeds to increase over the weekend and early next week with lower wind power generation again mid-next week before resuming towards the end of the week," said analysts at Refinitiv.

* Higher wind output usually means less demand for gas from power plants.

* Even though prices are lower, the gas system is undersupplied by 10 million cubic metres (mcm) on Friday with demand forecast at 169 mcm and supply at 159 mcm/day, according to National Grid data.

* The Dutch July contract, a key metric in global LNG price dynamics, fell by 0.63 euro to 9.00 euros per megawatt hour.

* Benchmark Dec-19 EU carbon contract was down 0.23 euro at 26.66 euros a tonne.

Copyright Reuters, 2019

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