UK GAS-Export demand helps support prices despite oversupply

* System oversupplied by 8 mcm/day

* Gas for day-ahead delivery up 0.45 p at 43.35 p/therm

July 30 (Reuters) - British wholesale gas prices rose on Thursday despite an oversupplied system and healthy supply outlooks as exports to Europe and higher gas use in the electricity sector supported demand.

Gas for day-ahead delivery rose 0.45 pence at 43.35 pence per therm at 0847 GMT, while gas for immediate delivery rose 0.32 pence at 43.25 p/therm.

The UK gas system was forecast to be oversupplied by about 8 million cubic metres/day (mcm) while demand was estimated at 180 mcm, well above normal levels after reduced wind output increased electricity sector demand for gas and exports to Belgium remained steady.

Exports from Britain to Belgium are expected to climb to 32 mcm, 4 mcm higher compared with the previous session.

UK Continental Shelf gas flows were steady at 120 mcm, while a boost in deliveries from the Bacton Shell and Bacton Seal terminals led to oversupply, analysts at Thomson Reuters Point Carbon said.

An additional LNG cargo aboard Qatar's Al Samriya tanker was flagged en route into the South Hook import terminal in Wales on Aug. 6, according to port data.

Elevated power sector demand for gas may ease through the day following the return to service of EDF Energy's Heysham 2-7 nuclear reactor overnight after an outage.

Interdealer broker Marex Spectron said it expects European gas prices to break their recent bearish cycle.

"The main reasons are in the reduced supply of pipeline gas at the time when seasonal re-stocking in Europe is under way," Marex Spectron research analyst Giacomo Masato said in a note.

Further along the curve, gas for September delivery was 0.10 pence higher at 42.50 p/therm.

In the Dutch gas market, August gas at the TTF hub was 0.02 euros higher at 20.75 euros per megawatt hour.

In the European Union's carbon market, the benchmark price edged down by 0.02 euro to 8.05 euros per tonne. (Reporting by Oleg Vukmanovic in Milan; editing by David Clarke (Toronto: CKI.TO - news) )