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UK #gas prices for next week rise on Bacton work

British prompt gas prices eased slightly on Friday morning as the system was oversupplied, but prices for early next week rose on the back of expected maintenance work at the Bacton Shell gas field.


Warm weather and a long weekend ahead in many parts of continental Europe left Britain's gas demand at 183.3 million cubic metres (mcm), almost 30 percent below the seasonal norm, and meant that the UK market was oversupplied by around 10 mcm, according to data from National Grid.

As a result, gas prices for within-day delivery fell by 0.2 pence per therm since Thursday, to 52.80 pence at 1045 BST (0945 GMT) on Friday.

Although the UK's MetOffice said that the current warm weather was expected to last until next week, gas prices for delivery on Monday rose slightly as maintenance at the Bacton Shell gas field was expected to begin next Monday.

Gas prices for delivery on Monday rose around one penny a therm to 53.40.

'The maintenance at Bacton Shell is expected to start next Monday, lasting for 36 hours with an expected loss of 10.5 mcm/d in capacity. This would reduce UK continental shelf gas production early next week,' analysts at Point Carbon said, adding that they expected gas prices to come out between 53 and 53.50 pence per therm on the back of this maintenance.

http://www.lse.co.uk/FinanceNews.asp?ArticleCode=eq71l72h0fk7s4g&ArticleHeadline=UK_gas_prices_for_next_week_rise_on_Bacton_work

UK gas system remains undersupplied on Troll outage

Britain's gas market remained tight on Thursday and prices remained firm as pipeline supplies from Norway were still reduced following a Norwegian gas field outage earlier this week.

National Grid data showed that Norwegian gas flows via the Langeled pipeline was pumping just above 30 million cubic metres per day (mcm/day) to Britain on Thursday morning after Statoil suspended production at Norway's biggest gas field at 1859 GMT on Tuesday.

Langeled is Britain's main sub-sea gas import route and has a capacity of 70 mcm/day.

Although daily gas demand in Britain was set to be only around 192.6 mcm on Thursday, over a quarter below the seasonal norm, the system was expected to be undersupplied by 17.8 mcm, according to National Grid, implying the need for storage withdrawals.

Britain's gas storage sites were filled to an average of 56.2 percent on Wednesday, according to Gas Infrastructure Europe, some 4 percent above the European average level.

Severn Barrage is 'single most important low carbon, #renewable energy project in Europe', says Hain

THE Severn Barrage is the the 'single most important low carbon, renewable energy project in Europe', according to Peter Hain.

The Neath MP this week resigned as Shadow Welsh Secretary to campaign for the barrage, which would stretch from Lavernock Point to Brean Down in Somerset, earlier this week.

It would be the biggest infrastructure project ever in Wales.


Mr Hain said: “The Severn Barrage will have the biggest, most positive effect on Wales of anything in the next few years, short of Government macro-economic policy.

Energy revamp ‘will cost billions’

Energy Secretary Ed Davey will lay the Draft Energy Bill before Parliament on Tuesday, hailing it as a blueprint to keep “lights on, bills down and air clean”.

He is expected to claim the reforms offer the “TLC” – transparency, longevity and certainty – needed to secure £110bn investment to replace old power stations and meet green targets.

Yet industry experts warn that crucial details remain unresolved, and that some of the fundamental proposals could deter investment and increase costs for consumers.

Volker Beckers, chief executive of RWE npower, told The Sunday Telegraph that the billions of pounds of investment Britain needs “may not come at all unless energy policy is given the proper priority and resource across government”.

He questioned the Government’s approach to energy sector reform, which includes separate overhauls of retail markets and networks as well as the various elements of the Energy Bill. “Pulling so many levers at once in such a complex area risks losing sight of your original objectives,” he said.

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