UK GAS-Contracts rally on Norway, Nord Stream outages

LONDON, July 18 (Reuters) - British wholesale gas prices rose on Wednesday driven by outages in Norway which have reduced supply and higher demand from mainland Europe following the shutdown of Russia's Nord Stream gas export pipeline to Germany.

* Day-ahead gas rose by 0.45 pence at 57.50 pence per therm at 0911 GMT, while gas for immediate delivery rose by 0.50 p to 57.50 p/therm.

* Prompt and forward contracts on several bullish factors, including markedly low wind power generation and dwindling contributions from liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals as imports fell, two market sources said.

* Norway's Gullfaks gas field has experienced a shutdown which has reduced Norwegian exports to Britain by 3 million cubic metres/day (mcm/day) to 74 mcm/day on Wednesday, flow data shows.

* The shutdown of the Nord Stream gas pipeline on Tuesday for two weeks also boosted demand for Norwegian gas on the continent, which may tighten supplies to Britain during the period.

* The British gas market was slightly oversupplied, with demand forecast at 187.6 mcm and flows at 190.7 mcm/day, National Grid (LSE: NG.L - news) data showed.

* Average daily temperatures in Britain are seen at about 18 degrees Celsius on Wednesday but are expected to rise to 20 C next week, Thomson Reuters Eikon data showed.

* InterconnectorUK exports to continental Europe steadied at 52 mcm/day.

* Forward monthly contracts rose with August gas up 0.36 pence at 57.11 p/therm and September up 0.17 pence at 57.90 p/therm

* In the Dutch gas market, the day-ahead price at the TTF hub edged up by 0.03 euro to 21.98 euros per megawatt-hour

* The benchmark Dec (Shanghai: 600875.SS - news) -18 EU carbon contract rose by 0.27 euros to 16.35 euros a tonne. (Reporting by Oleg Vukmanovic, editing by Nina Chestney)