U.K. Gas Falls as Demand Drops, Supplies Expected to Increase
By Nicholas Larkin
Oct. 12 (Bloomberg) -- U.K. natural-gas prices for today fell as forecasts showed supplies will outstrip demand and as Royal Dutch Shell Plc planned to start its North Sea Goldeneye field this afternoon.
Gas for same-day delivery dropped 9.3 percent to 37.70 pence a therm as of 1:15 p.m. London time, according to prices on Bloomberg from the broker Spectron Group Plc. That's equivalent to $7.60 a million British thermal units. A therm is 100,000 Btus.
Expected supplies of the fuel in the 24 hours through 6 a.m. tomorrow was forecast at 251 million cubic meters, according to information updated at 12:59 p.m. today on a Web site run by National Grid Plc, the manager of Britain's gas pipeline network.
That's higher than forecast demand of 246 million cubic meters, which fell from 260 million cubic meters at the same time yesterday.
Supplies of the fuel on to the grid were at a rate of 274.1 million cubic meters a day as of 1:15 p.m., flow data from National Grid on Bloomberg show.
Shell said it will start its Goldeneye North Sea field this afternoon following a halt on Oct. 4 caused by an equipment failure. The field delivers fuel to St. Fergus in Scotland.
Gas flows to the U.K. from Norway's Statfjord field through the Tampen Link are now expected to start by the end of the week, StatoilHydro ASA, which holds a 44 percent interest in the field, said today. The Tampen Link, originally scheduled to start operations on Oct. 1, was delayed because of bad weather and technical problems.
Belgian Exports
Gas for November delivery was little changed at 44.85 pence a therm, Spectron showed.
Exports to Belgium via a pipeline from England were forecast at 25.7 million cubic meters today, compared with 18.2 million yesterday, according to the pipeline's operator, Interconnector (U.K.) Ltd.
Gas for delivery on Oct. 15 at Zeebrugge in Belgium shed 1.6 percent to 40 pence a therm. Next-working-day gas at the Dutch Title Transfer Facility added 10 cents to 19.15 euros a megawatt- hour, equivalent to $7.96 a million Btus or 39.23 pence a therm.
U.K. electricity for delivery next summer extended gains to trade at its highest in almost 13 months as corresponding gas prices gained. Gas is the fuel for about 40 percent of Britain's electricity production, so its price influences the power market.
Baseload electricity for supply in the six months from April next year rose for a seventh straight session, gaining 10 pence to 41.90 pounds ($85) a megawatt-hour, GFI Group Inc. showed. The gas contract for summer 2008 added 1.2 percent to 39.45 pence a therm, according to ICAP Plc.