UK Natural Gas Prices firm, supported by cooler weekend weather

Prompt UK natural gas prices were firmer on Friday as expectations that cooler weather this weekend will drive up energy demand were only slightly tempered by an oversupplied system.

Prices for next-day delivery edged up 0.15 pence to 54.60 pence per therm at 0950 GMT.

The UK gas system was 4 million cubic metres oversupplied, with flows forecast at 308 mcm/day and demand at 304 mcm, according to National Grid data.

Demand was above the seasonal norm of 282 mcm.

Meteorologists forecast temperatures for the coming week as slightly above normal for this time of year, with the exception of a cool spell this weekend, which was supportive of prompt prices.

Temperatures were forecast to drop to about 2 degrees Celsius on Saturday, below the seasonal norm of about 5 degrees.

Flows from Norway’s Langeled were in line with the previous day at around 70 mcm, while BBL flows were also steady on the day at around 26 mcm. Vesterled flows, however, were slightly lower than on Thursday.

“There is a reduction in flows via Vesterled today and as a result flows into St. Fergus are down to 25 mcm/d this morning compared to 33 mcm/d yesterday,” a carbon analysts said.

In Europe’s carbon market, benchmark EU Allowances (EUA) were down 0.05 euro at 6.69 euros per tonne.