European gas prices stable, short-term outlook flat

Dutch and British wholesale gas contracts were largely steady after some initial gains, amid an unchanged short-term outlook but risks of increased competition for liquefied natural gas (LNG) could be a concern.

The benchmark Dutch front-month contract at the TTF hub was down €0.25 at €33.80 per megawatt hour (MWh), or $11.45/mmBtu, at 09:09 GMT, LSEG data showed. It traded at high as €34.99/MWh earlier in the day.

The Dutch September contract was down €0.28 at €34.45/MWh and the day-ahead contract eased by €0.25 to €33.47/MWh.

The British front-month contract was down by 0.41p at 82.60p per therm, while the day-ahead gas price was up 0.35p at 83p per therm.

"Today's outlook remains sideways, with fundamentals largely unchanged," LSEG gas analyst Yuriy Onyshkiv said in a morning note.

Norwegian gas export nominations are stable at 338 million cubic metres (mcm) per day, LSEG data showed.

Temperatures in Europe are expected to rise above normal from early August but were having little impact on demand forecasts, Onyshkiv added.

However, above-average temperatures in eastern Asia could see higher demand for LNG in the region, and increase competition to attract LNG vessels, Mind Energy analyst Karsten Sander Nielsen said.

"There is no major panic as confidence is still high that Europe will manage to fill up storages," he added.

Europe's gas storages sites are currently 67.6 per cent full, latest data from Gas Infrastructure Europe showed.

Still, news that Shell-led LNG Canada, is experiencing technical problems in ramping up production could raise some market concerns, analysts at Engie EnergyScan said in their morning note.

Meanwhile, no impact on Russian LNG export nor Japanese nuclear power generation has been reported following a powerful earthquake off Russia's Far Eastern Kamchatka Peninsula, which also triggered tsunami warnings including in Japan.

(Reporting by Nora Buli in Oslo; editing by Nina Chestney)