A force majeure announced by French gas grid operator GRTGaz Sunday evening restricting half of the firm capacity pushed the French gas TRS winthin-day premium to PEG Nord above Eur7.00/MWh Monday morning, data from gas exchange platform PEGAS showed.
On Monday morning, the North South link was restricted by 52% on the firm capacity and by 100% on the interruptible capacity, according to GRTGaz's website.
At about 10:30 am London time, TRS within-day saw bid and offer premiums to the other French hub, PEG Nord, of Eur6.65/MWh and Eur7.625/MWh, respectively, according to PEGAS data.
A French gas trader said: "The [within-day] spread is already at Eur7.00/MWh and the day has just started," while another trader said: "I think it will gain further value."
On Friday, TRS day-ahead premium to PEG nord ended at Eur5.20/MWh.
"At the moment, nothing has traded on the TRS day-ahead," said a third market participant, pointing to a wait-and-see market behaviour. "But it is possible to see a Eur6.00/MWh spread," he said.
According to S&P Global Platts data, last time the TRS day-ahead premium to PEG Nord reached Eur6.00/MWh was November 10, 2014.
Meanwhile, LNG sendout nominations in the south of France at Fos Tonkin terminal were at 55.5 GWh/d Monday, compared with 72.3 GWh/d Friday, while sendout nominations at Fos Cavaou were at 15.6 GWh/d Monday, against 11.4 GWh/d Friday, according to the operators Elengy and Fosmax.
The TRS area is supplied with gas by the PEG Nord on the North South link and by LNG at the Fos terminals, while the TRS region also exports gas to Spanish AOC.
Some participants said there was the possibility of reduced flows to Spain.
