UK GAS-Prices edge lower on high Dutch flows, weaker storage demand

* Storage demand lower

* Winter 2015 gas contract touches fresh low

June 18 (Reuters) - British wholesale gas prices fell on Thursday as strong imports from the Netherlands and a near halving in demand for replenishing storage sites left the network oversupplied.

Gas for delivery on Friday fell 0.85 percent to 41.97 pence per therm by 0850 GMT, while gas for immediate delivery traded slightly higher at 42 p/therm.

Forecast demand for gas was 156 million cubic metres (mcm), below the seasonal norm of 165 mcm/day, while supply was seen at 168 mcm, leaving the system 12 mcm oversupplied, National Grid (LSE: NG.L - news) data showed.

Britain's gas network was less oversupplied later in the morning at 5 mcm long.

Dutch imports via the BBL pipeline rose to around 18 mcm and were expected to flow at 16 mcm on average through the day, according to National Grid.

The amount of gas forecast to be injected into British storage sites fell to 25 mcm from 42 mcm on Wednesday, resulting in more supply available on the open market.

"This is the other key reason for current oversupply and we expect a significant increase in injection nominations during the day," Thomson Reuters Point Carbon analyst Oliver Sanderson said in a note, referring to strong BBL flows as the other main driver of oversupply.

But by 0838 GMT, Dutch flows dropped sharply to just above 5 mcm, according to real-time flow data.

Output from the UK Continental Shelf remained low at 111 mcm compared with levels last week as maintenance affected gasfields feeding supply into the St Fergus terminal.

Norwegian deliveries through the Langeled pipeline fell to around 10 mcm from overnight highs of 15 mcm, but were in line with Wednesday day-time levels.

Further along the curve, the winter 2015 contract touched a fresh low of 47.30 p/therm before recovering to its previous session closing level of 47.40 p/therm.

The contract touch a record low on Wednesday, falling through a technical support level.

In the Netherlands, the day-ahead gas price at the TTF hub declined by 0.02 euro to 20.35 euros per megawatt hour.

In Europe's carbon market, the benchmark front-year price was trading at 7.51 euros a tonne on ICE Futures Europe, up 0.01 euro. (Reporting by Oleg Vukmanovic; editing by Jason Neely)