Prices fall on warmer weather, bearish supply news
LONDON, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Dutch and British wholesale gas prices fell on Monday morning as forecasts for warmer than usual temperatures curbed demand for gas and news from Friday that Hungary said it had found a solution to enable it to pay for Russian gas weighed on the market.
The benchmark front-month contract at the Dutch TTF hub was down 0.89 euro at 40.25 euros per megawatt hour (MWh), or $12.43/mmbtu, by 0923 GMT.
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The Dutch-day ahead contract was down 1.25 euros at 40.00 euros/MWh.
In Britain the day-ahead contract fell 3.45 pence to 98.75 p per therm.
"The weather forecasts look mild and the market is again turning optimistic that Europe will get through the heating season without any major crises," analysts at Energi Danmark said in a daily research note.
Analysts at Engie EnergyScan said last week's news on Hungary and Bulgaria had also pressured prices.
"News that Hungary and Bulgaria found a technical solution to pay Russian gas despite the new US sanctions against Gazprombank and that Slovakia will hold new talks with EU partners and Ukraine regarding gas supplies fuelled the bearish trend," EnergyScan said.
Hungary said on Friday it had found a solution that would allow it to pay for Russian gas shipments via the Turkstream pipeline from Bulgaria without falling foul of U.S. sanctions.
Slovakia, also said on Friday it would conduct a series of negotiations to ensure Russian gas supplies after its current transit contract that involves Ukraine expires at the end of this year.
Russian gas producer Gazprom said it would send 42 million cubic metres (mcm) of gas to Europe via Ukraine on Monday, in line with 42.4 mcm sent on Sunday.
In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract was down 0.52 euro at 63.91 euros a metric ton.
(Reporting by Susanna Twidale, additonal reporting by Nora Buli; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)