Prices rise following previous session's wide sell-off
LONDON, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Dutch and British wholesale gas prices rose on Friday morning, rebounding from a sell off in the previous session but with gains expected to be short-lived as temperatures are forecast to be above seasonal norms next week.
The benchmark front-month contract at the Dutch TTF hub was up 0.55 euro at 43.15 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) at 0950 GMT, while the February contract was 0.28 euro higher at 43.03 euros/MWh.
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In the British market, the day-ahead contract was up 0.25 pence at 106.00 pence per therm.
"Prompt contracts could remain under bearish pressure today as wind power generation and temperatures are expected to pick up above seasonal norms next week," analysts at Engie's EnergyScan said in a morning note.
The analysts said unplanned outages in Norway are also expected to end at the beginning of next week will lead to higher supply.
Temperatures across Northwest Europe were revised warmer until Dec 27, LSEG data showed.
Gas demand for power is expected to drop significantly on the day ahead, due to a significant jump in windspeed, LSEG analyst Wayne Bryan said.
"There is also a 30 gigawatt (GW) increase in German wind generation which severely reduces power sector (gas) demand on the day ahead, exacerbated by French nuclear output rising to a four year high of 52 GW," Bryan said.
In Britain, peak wind generation is forecast at 6.2 GW on Friday, rising to 14.5 GW on Saturday, Elexon data showed.
European gas storage is currently around 80.16% full, data from Gas Infrastructure Europe showed, down from 91% at the same time last year and below the 5-year average of 83%.
Russian gas producer Gazprom said it would send 42.4 million cubic metres (mcm) of gas to Europe via Ukraine on Friday, the same volume as on Thursday.
In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract inched up by 0.25 euro to 66.35 euros per metric ton.
(Reporting by Marwa Rashad; Editing by Susanna Twidale)