(Reuters) - British spot wholesale gas prices edged higher on Monday due to an undersupplied transmission system.
Gas for immediate delivery rose 0.15 pence above the previous settlement, to 29.80 p/therm at 0952 GMT.
Britain's gas system was undersupplied by 10.8 million cubic metres (mcm), with demand forecast at 326.7 mcm/day and flows seen at around 315.9 mcm/day.
Supply was tight, partly owing to a supply disruption at Total's St. Fergus gas terminal of 5 mcm/day since Saturday. Terminal flows, currently at around 20 mcm/day, are expected to increase on Monday afternoon, the company said.
That, combined with reduced flows from St. Fergus Mobil, helped push UK Continental Shelf output slightly lower at 135 mcm/day.
A new liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker delivery was announced for the South Hook import terminal in Wales, arriving on Feb. 28, with three other tankers expected before then. [LNG/TKUK]
Send-out from the South Hook LNG terminal rose on Monday morning to 44 mcm/day, from around 40 mcm/day over the past 24-hours.
"The continuation of cold conditions into today have seen local distribution zone (for heating) consumption forecasts tick higher," said Marcel Boonaert, head of trading and portfolio at Wingas UK.
"Despite cold conditions and tight supplies intra-day, temperature forecasts now pointing towards above seasonal normal conditions over the coming week have seen price across the prompt and into the front month soften," he added.
The day-ahead gas contract declined 0.10 pence to 29.60 pence/therm, while the front-month March was trading at 28.60 p/therm, down 0.15 pence from Friday levels.
Further out on the curve, contracts followed gains in the oil price. The winter 2016 contract was up 0.20 pence at 33.30 p/therm.
In the Netherlands, the March gas price at the TTF hub was 0.03 euros higher at 12.18 euros per megawatt-hour.
In the European carbon market, front-year EU allowances were down 0.14 euros at 4.93 euros a tonne.