Prices hold firm amid good LNG supply and unplanned Norwegian maintenance

Gas prices held firm on Thursday amid strong LNG supply and unplanned Norwegian maintenance.

Key curve contracts posted meager gains, averaging circa 0.01p/kWh higher when compared to the previous close.

The change in sentiment was likely attributed to an unscheduled outage at the Norwegian Kollsnes facility. Data from offshore operator Gassco shows that a processing fault which began Thursday afternoon, reduced available capacity by over 23mcm/day throughout the remainder of the session.

However, strong LNG supply perhaps helped to keep a lid on any substantial price increases. The latest shipping signals indicate that up to eight laden vessels could berth at British terminals within the next 7 days, with the US Energy Endeavour expected to dock at Milford Haven’s South Hook No2 terminal later this afternoon.

In other news, the US House of Representatives voted on Thursday to pass legislation that would block Joe Biden’s LNG export license freeze; the proposal will now be passed up to the US Senate for a final vote.

NBP prices are relatively unchanged this morning, with most being offered very much in line with their previous settlement, at time of writing.

In terms of electricity demand, if we check the latest half hourly period at the time of writing (09:30 – 10:00), electricity demand is currently 33.47 GW’s in the UK.

21.28% (7.63 GW’s) of the UK’s total electricity is being generated from wind turbines at the moment, with gas being used to generate 11.63 GW’s (32.42%).

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