Warm weather saw soft demand across the UK on Tuesday but prices remained firm on the NBP wholesale gas trading hub on strong storage injections and with Norwegian field maintenance extended.
At midday in London, gas for same-day delivery was valued at 64.70 pence/therm, down by 0.15 p/th from Friday's close -- prior to the long weekend -- and the day-ahead contract gained 0.40 p/th at 64.70 p/th.
This time last year, the two contracts were valued at 56.00 and 58.60 p/th.
"It's still a storage play," one gas trader said. "I think prices will remain highish. However, I'm not sure how much higher they will go."
Gas for June delivery gained 0.60 p/th at 64.65 p/th, compared to 56.65 p/th a year ago.
Gassco announced Tuesday that field maintenance which has a daily impact of 40 million cubic meters/day will last through to May 21.
Earlier it was expected the work would end May 11.
Gains extended along the curve with the Q3 and Winter 13 contracts gaining 0.55 and 0.50 p/th, respectively, at 65.45 and 71.35 p/th.
Summer and Winter 14 were up by 0.15 and 0.35 p/th at 63.75 and 70.50 p/th.
On the supply side, the system was finely balanced with demand 29 million cu m below the seasonal norm at 200 million cu m.
"Langeled flows have over doubled since Friday," a market analyst said.
"LNG sendout from South Hook continues strongly at 42 million cu m with 3 cargoes due to berth here within the next 7 days," he said.
