* Withdrawals from storage needed as Norwegian outages continue
* Cold weather on Friday, but milder over weekend
LONDON, May 24 (Reuters) - British spot gas prices remained near mid-winter levels as medium-range storage sites had to inject into the system after a week of disruption in flows from Norwegian gasfields.
The price of gas for within-day delivery traded at 69 pence per therm at 1100 GMT on Friday, down from a settlement of 68.25 pence on Thursday. Gas for day-ahead delivery (Tuesday) traded at 68.80 pence, down 0.45 pence from Thursday's close.
Many of Britain's offices and factories will be closed on Monday for a public holiday.
Traders said that medium-range storage sites and the BBL gas link with the Netherlands had to pump gas into Britain's network, though supplies from Norwegian fields increased on Friday to 49 million cubic metres (mcm) a day, up from Thursday's average of 36 mcm/day when flows were disrupted by a series of outages.
Flows through the 72 mcm Langeled pipeline were running at a rate of 22 mcm/day on Friday.
Langeled flows fell to zero on Thursday afternoon when the Kaarstoe processing plant was shut because of a gas leak. Production was partly restored later.
Spot gas prices in late May typically trade at much lower levels than in winter because springtime temperatures typically reduce demand for gas heating. Prices at this time last May were about 25 percent lower at 52 pence per therm.
LITTLE RESPITE
But unseasonal cold weather, North Sea outages and low levels of stored gas have kept prices high, offering little respite for Britain's energy users.
Britain has been unable to build up storage to usual levels for May because of high prices and strong demand, with inventories at 28.1 percent of capacity by Thursday evening, up 0.7 percent from the previous day.
Data from National Grid (LSE: NG.L - news) suggested that a net 14 mcm would be withdrawn to pump into Britain's gas system, mainly from the Holford and Hatfield Moor storage facilities.
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal South Hook sent out 43.3 mcm, up from 41 mcm on Thursday, while the BBL pipeline increased flows to Britain by 7 mcm to 16 mcm.
The Met Office said that temperatures in southern Britain would range between 6 and 11 degrees Celsius Friday, well below normal for this time of year, but the thermometer is expected to rise to more than 15 degrees over the weekend.
Britain's benchmark front-season gas contract slipped by only 0.02 pence to 71.80 pence per therm, while Brent crude prices edged down towards $102 a barrel on Friday, pressured by ample supply and a sluggish economic recovery that could dent demand for fuel.
Day-ahead British baseload electricity was up 1.25 pounds to 52.67 pounds per megawatt-hour as EDF Energy was forced to take its entire 1,280MW Torness nuclear plant in Scotland offline to prevent seaweed from entering its cooling system. (Reporting by John McGarrity; Editing by David Goodman)
