Dutch and British wholesale gas prices continued to ease, on Tuesday morning for the second session this week, trading in a narrow range, on stable supply from Norway and liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes.
The benchmark Dutch front-month contract at the TTF hub was down €0.24 at €31.81 per megawatt hour (MWh), or $11.34/mmBtu, by 09:06 GMT, LSEG data showed.
The Dutch day-ahead contract was down €0.42 at €31.38/MWh.
The British front-month gas price fell by 1.38p to 77.80p per therm, while the day-ahead price eased by 0.50p to 77.50p/therm.
"We expect prices to trade sideways, with mild bullish support from power sector demand offset by stable supply and limited risk premium," said LSEG analyst, Oleh Skrynyk.
Wind generation is still expected to be quite strong for selected days in the coming week, and temperatures are also expected to be above seasonal normal for the coming days, consultancy Auxilione said in a daily research note.
European gas inventories are so far 80.6 per cent full, according to Gas Infrastructure Europe.
"EU gas stocks have now passed a key milestone – the 80 per cent mark. That will also give some level of comfort to the markets as we quickly approach in the winter delivery period in just a couple of weeks time," Auxilione said.
Engie's EnergyScan said that the combination of ongoing deliveries of Arctic LNG 2 volumes to China and strong LNG deliveries to Europe is also exerting downward pressure on prices.
A fourth cargo from Arctic LNG 2 was discharged at the Chinese port of Beihai on September 14, four days after a third LNG vessel departed, LSEG ship-tracking data showed.
(Reporting by Marwa Rashad; Editing by Susanna Twidale)