The amount of natural gas held in stock in UK gas storage facilities moved above levels from 2015 for the time of year as medium-range gas storage facilities held onto stocks after heavy withdrawals mid-January, data from the National Grid showed.
UK gas stocks ended Tuesday's gas day at 2.724 Bcm, higher than the 2.692 Bcm from the same time in 2015 and also up on the five-year average of 2.661 Bcm.
Gas stocks were as much as 285 million cu m down on the year on January 21 as a cold snap allied to a steep increase in gas-for-power demand led to strong withdrawals from capacity holders because of more favorable NBP price spreads.
However, since the cold snap ended, capacity holders at medium-range storage facilities have held onto stocks as withdrawals from the long-range Rough facility have continued.
UK gas stocks were split between Rough and MRS facilities at 1.837 Bcm and 887 million cu m respectively, after having been 2.305 Bcm and 862 million cu m after the cold snap.
MRS facilities, which are more reactive to market conditions than the Rough reservoir, have been seen injecting gas into stock as the NBP day-ahead contract has been trading at a discount to the working-days-next-week contract recently, whereas day-ahead was 1.35 pence/therm higher than working-days-next -week on January 18 and January 19, Platts price data showed.
2016/17 STORAGE SPREADS WIDEN
NBP storage spreads for the 2016/17 storage year have widened back to the levels seen in late 2015 as prompt weakness allied to the recovery in oil prices led to differing price directions for contracts.
The NBP Q1 2017/Q3 2016 spread has gone back above 7 p/th, hitting as high as 7.175 p/th on February 1 after having been as narrow as 4.55 p/th in November according to Platts price data.
