Spot gas prices on the Dutch and German trading hubs extended Wednesday's gains Thursday morning, in line with the UK NBP where the day-ahead also moved higher from its previous close.
At midday London time, the day-ahead contract on the Dutch TTF was up 20 euro cent at Eur17.85/MWh, while gas for next-day delivery on the German NetConnect had firmed 15 euro cent to Eur17.90/MWh.
The German GASPOOL day-ahead contract, which posted more modest gains than those seen at the TTF and NCG hubs during Wednesday trading, was heard at Eur17.675/MWh late morning, rising around half a euro.
Norwegian gas exports to Germany and the Netherlands edged lower from Wednesday's close, seen at 114.65 million cubic meters/day at 1245 BST Thursday, against 116.6 m cu m/d at 1630 BST Wednesday, according to exporter Gassco.
Norwegian flows into France through Dunkirk were just above 30 million cu m/d, little changed on the day.
However, Continental Europe was not receiving any gas via the UK-Belgium Interconnector pipeline, which entered maintenance Wednesday, scheduled to last until June 26.
Along the Eastern Corridor, morning nominations showed that Russian flows reaching the Velke Kapusany entry point on the Slovak-Ukrainian border were lower on the day at 113 million cu m/d, down from 125 million cu m/d Wednesday morning.
Data from Platts unit Bentek Energy showed that 102 million cu m/d of Russian gas would reach Germany via Nord Stream and 73 million cu m/d via Poland Thursday, unchanged from Wednesday.
Temperatures in Germany were forecast to remain above the seasonal average Thursday before easing into Friday, having reached 35 degrees Celsius in some cities earlier in the week. German forecaster DWD predicted temperatures of 20 C in Berlin, 19 C in Hamburg, 24 C in Munich and 23 C in Cologne Friday.
According to Dutch forecaster KNMI, Amsterdam should be at 22 C.
