U.K. Natural Gas Advances as Freezing Weather Boosts Demand

U.K. natural gas for next-working day delivery rose as forecasts for freezing weather boosted demand for the heating fuel.

The day-ahead contract climbed 2.8 percent, according to broker data compiled by Bloomberg. The low temperature in London was minus 1 degree Celsius (30 Fahrenheit) today and will be minus 3 degrees on Jan 14, compared with a 10-year average of 2 degrees, CustomWeather Inc. data on Bloomberg show.

Gas for Jan. 14 gained 1.9 pence to 68.9 pence a therm at 11:02 a.m. London time, the highest level since Dec. 7. Month- ahead gas advanced 0.7 percent to 67.7 pence a therm. That’s equivalent to $10.93 per million British thermal units and compares with $3.22 per million Btu of front-month U.S. gas.

Demand in the 24 hours to 6 a.m. tomorrow will be 320 million cubic meters, down from 326 million yesterday, yet above the seasonal normal of 306 million, National Grid Plc (NG/) data show. Flows increased to a rate of as much as 358 million cubic meters a day, the most since Dec. 14, grid data show.

Imports from Norway were at a rate of 132 million cubic meters a day, the fastest pace since Jan. 1, Gassco AS data show.

Output from Norway was cut by 6.6 million cubic meters a day and will probably last for 24 hrs from today, Statoil ASA (STL) said on its website.

Gas accounted for 28 percent of U.K. power production at 8:55 a.m., grid data show. Coal generated 46 percent, nuclear 19 percent and wind 0.4 percent.

Electricity for the next working day jumped 6.7 percent to 53.50 pounds a megawatt-hour, broker data show.

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