UK and European gas prices were falling back on the forward curve Monday from Friday's levels, as Russia and Germany said progress was made at talks in Berlin Sunday on the east Ukraine crisis.
On the prompt, the market was looking well-balanced Monday morning, but heavy Norwegian maintenance is keeping prices above their recent lows.
UK September gas traded at 43.50 pence/therm Monday morning, down 1.20 p/th from last Friday's close. The Winter 14 traded at 62.25 p/th, down 0.95 p/th.
There were similar losses on the Dutch TTF hub, where September fell 70 cents to Eur18.40/MWh and the Winter fell 50 cents to Eur25.30/MWh.
The BBC reported Monday that German and Russian foreign ministries had said progress was made at talks in Berlin Sunday between the foreign ministers of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France.
The BBC added that Ukrainian government forces had advanced into the rebel-held city of Luhansk for the first time in months on Sunday.
Concerns over the crisis in eastern Ukraine and its potential impact on future transit of Russian gas supplies through Ukraine to western Europe has been supporting the forward curve in recent weeks.
On the prompt, UK day-ahead traded Monday morning at 43.00 p/th, down a pence from Friday's close, but still up from levels around 35-40 p/th in recent weeks.
Dutch TTF day-ahead at Eur17.90/MWh was down 90 cents from Friday.
The UK prompt just picked up over 40 p/th at the end of last week as Norway entered the heaviest period of its annual planned summer maintenance.
Norway has 95 million cu m/day of offshore maintenance underway until Wednesday, dropping to 84 million cu m Thursday-Saturday then to 66 million cu m until September 3, according to export system operator Gassco.
The weather in the UK is also a little cooler than would be expected for the time of year this week, with some potential cold night time temperatures too, boosting heating demand.
Nominations Monday showed local distribution zone heating demand for Monday expected at around 68 million cu m, up from a seven day average of 62 million cu m/day.
Total demand was forecast by National Grid at 149 million cu m in its 08:00 UK time estimates, neatly balanced against expected supplies also at 149 million cu m.
Despite the cool weather this week, total demand is also below National Grid's seasonal norm expectation of 172 million cu m, with both storage injection and export demand low.
UK gas storage is already 96% full with 4.4 billion cubic meters, compared with 79% at the same time last year, cutting injections.
The UK was nominated to ship 10 million cu m to Belgium Monday through the Interconnector pipeline.
LNG remains a key source of supply for the UK, with nominations for sendout to the national transmission system at 39 million cu m Monday.
Qatar still has a steady string of vessels lined up to deliver to the South Hook terminal, including the Al Samriya Thursday and the Onaiza Sunday.
UK and European gas prices were falling back on the forward curve Monday from last Friday's levels, as Russia and Germany said progress was made at talks on the east Ukraine crisis in Berlin Sunday.
On the prompt the market was looking well-balanced Monday morning, but heavy Norwegian maintenance is keeping prices elevated above their recent lows.
UK September gas traded at 43.50 pence/therm Monday morning, down 1.20 p/th from last Friday's close. The Winter 14 traded at 62.25 p/th, down 0.95 p/th.
There were similar losses at the Dutch TTF hub, where September fell 70 cents to Eur18.40/MWh and the Winter fell 50 cents to Eur25.30/MWh.
The BBC reported Monday that German and Russian foreign ministries had said progress was made at talks in Berlin Sunday between the foreign ministers of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France.
The BBC added that Ukrainian government forces had advanced into the rebel-held city of Luhansk for the first time in months on Sunday.
Concerns over the crisis in eastern Ukraine and its potential impact on future transit of Russian gas supplies through Ukraine to western Europe has been supporting the forward curve in recent weeks.
On the prompt, UK day-ahead traded Monday morning at 43.00 p/th, down a penny from last Friday's close, but still up from levels around 35-40 p/th earlier in recent weeks.
Dutch TTF day-ahead at Eur17.90/MWh was down 90 cents from Friday.
The UK prompt just picked up over 40 p/th at the end of last week as Norway entered the heaviest period of its annual planned summer maintenance.
Norway has 95 million cu m/day of offshore maintenance underway until Wednesday, dropping to 84 million cu m Thursday-Saturday then to 66 million cu m until September 3, according to export system operator Gassco.
The weather in the UK is also a little cooler than would be expected for the time of year this week, with some potential cold night time temperatures too, boosting heating demand.
Nominations Monday showed local distribution zone heating demand for Monday expected at around 68 million cu m, up from a seven day average of 62 million cu m/day.
Total demand was forecast by National Grid at 149 million cu m in its 0800 UK time estimates, neatly balanced against expected supplies also at 149 million cu m.
Despite the cool weather this week, total demand is also below National Grid's seasonal normal expectation of 172 million cu m, with both storage injection and export demand low.
UK gas storage is already 96% full with 4.4 billion cubic meters, compared with 79% at the same time last year, cutting injections.
The UK was nominated to ship 10 million cu m to Belgium Monday through the Interconnector pipeline.
LNG remains a key source of supply for the UK, with nominations for sendout to the national transmission system at 39 million cu m Monday.
Qatar still has a steady string of vessels lined up to deliver to the South Hook terminal, including the Al Samriya August 21 and the Onaiza August 24.
