U.K. Natural Gas Snaps Five-Day Gain as Norwegian Imports Rise

U.K. natural gas for next-day delivery declined, snapping a five-day advance, as imports from Norway and Belgium increased. Electricity for the next working day also dropped.

The gas contract fell as much as 1 percent, according to broker data compiled by Bloomberg. Flows from Norway were as high as 100 million cubic meters a day, the most since Nov. 10, Gassco AS data show. Belgian imports were at a rate of 22 million cubic meters a day, a five-day high, according to data from pipeline operator Interconnector U.K. Ltd.

Day-ahead gas slid 0.35 pence, or 0.5 percent, to 65.8 pence a therm at 4:27 p.m. London time after reaching 66.7 pence yesterday, the most since October. Month-ahead gas climbed 0.3 percent to 67.55 pence a therm. That’s equivalent to $10.70 per million British thermal units and compares with $3.77 per million Btu of front-month U.S. gas.

The delivery system will contain 347 million cubic meters of gas at 6 a.m. tomorrow, up from 341 million at the start of today, National Grid Plc (NG/) data show.

Gas accounted for 36 percent of U.K. power production at 4:20 p.m., grid data show. Coal generated 41 percent, nuclear 13 percent and wind 1.6 percent.

Electricity for the next working day fell 3.8 percent to 47.85 pounds a megawatt-hour. Month-ahead power rose 0.5 percent to 50 pounds a megawatt-hour.

To contact the reporter on this story: Matthew Brown in London at mbrown42@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Lars Paulsson at lpaulsson@bloomberg.net