Prices ease despite unplanned Norwegian supply issues
Gas prices continued to drop on Monday despite overall bullish fundamentals.
The majority of curve contracts continued their downwards trajectory into the close, with the Summer-24 contract posting some of the largest moves of the session, shedding nearly 0.1p/kWh when compared to its previous settlement.
A reduction in demand was likely the main reason for the drops. Data from National Gas shows that demand remained below seasonal norms for the eleventh consecutive gas-day and was a huge 86mcm/day below the seasonal average on Monday.
Offline Norwegian capacity however likely limited any further losses. Data from offshore operator Gassco shows 81.8mcm/day was offline throughout the gas-day due to unplanned maintenance at the Troll and Nyhamna gas facilities.
This morning gas prices have opened higher, with the March-24 front-month contract last trading circa 0.05p/kWh higher than its previous closing price.
If we check the latest half hourly period at the time of writing (13:30 – 14:00), electricity demand is currently 37.57 GW’s in the UK.
Wind turbines are currently contributing over 45% of the UK’s total electricity demand.
Specifically, 45.29% (18.10 GW’s) of the UK’s total electricity is being generated from wind turbines currently with gas only contributing 6.10 GW’s (15.26%).
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