UK GAS-Prices ease on adequate supply, falling oil

LONDON, Sept 17 (Reuters) - British spot gas prices edged lower on Thursday in a near balanced market.

Flows picked up from several sources restricted by maintenance earlier in the week, while weaker oil prices weighed on prices further along the curve.

Gas for within-day delivery was 0.03 pence lower at 41.65 p/therm, while prices for day-ahead delivery were down 0.40 pence at 41.50 pence per therm as of 0854 GMT.

Supply flows were forecast at around 189 million cubic meters (mcm) per day, while demand was expected at 192 mcm, leaving the system short a modest 3 mcm, National Grid (LSE: NG.L - news) data showed.

"The market is reasonably balanced today, with prompt prices softer on lower demand, and prices further along the curve under pressure from falling oil prices," said Wayne Bryan, analyst at consultancy Alfa Energy.

Bryan added that the appreciating euro versus sterling is limiting the downside.

Oil prices slipped below $50 a barrel on Thursday after weak Japanese data sounded alarm bells over the prospects for global growth, outweighing the bullish impact of a bigger-than-expected decline in U.S (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) . crude oil stocks.

Gas imports from Norway via the Langeled pipeline, Britain's main sub-sea gas import route, were around 50 mcm on Thursday, National Grid data showed, down from around 70 mcm the previous day.

Britain's Theddlethorpe gas terminal was also expected to see a pick up in flows continue after a planned outage at the site ended earlier in the week.

The steady arrival of liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes continued with tanker Al Samriya due in the coming days.

"LNG supply is looking comfortable with potentially 6 cargoes in the next 15 days suppressing the prompt," Bryan said.

Gas prices further along the curve also edged lower, with the October contract down 0.2 pence at 41.30 pence per therm.

In the Netherlands, the day-ahead gas price at the TTF hub was 0.12 euros lower at 19.13 euros per megawatt-hour (MWh).

The benchmark European Union carbon price slipped 0.04 euros to 8.20 euros per tonne on ICE Futures Europe. (Reporting by Sarah McFarlane, editing by William Hardy)