UK GAS-Prices mixed as cold snap expected to ease this week

LONDON, March 19 (Reuters) - British wholesale gas prices were mixed on Monday morning, with within-day gas up on cold temperatures but day-ahead down on expectations of slightly milder weather the rest of this week.

* Within-day gas was 1.25 pence higher at 53.25 pence per therm at 0902 GMT, having risen to an intra-day high of 60.00 p/therm in earlier trade

* "The cold snap has increased demand but the weather should get better this week," a UK gas trader said

* Daily average temperatures are forecast at 0.4 degrees Celsius on Monday but are seen rising to 5.2 degrees by the weekend, Thomson Reuters Eikon data shows

* "After a cold weekend, temperatures are expected to slowly recover though still remaining near-to-slightly below normal by the end of the week," said Thomson Reuters (Dusseldorf: TOC.DU - news) gas analyst Katarzyna Piaskowska

* The analysts have slightly upped their heating consumption forecats for this week and adjusted them downwards for next week

* Wind output is also forecast to decline this week, after a strong weekend, which could raise demand for gas from utilities

* Peak wind generation is expected to fall to 4.6 gigawatts (GW) on Tuesday from 7.6 GW today, Elexon data shows

* Gas withdrawals from storage are expected to be strong this week. However, as the summer gas season approaches, stocks in medium-range storage are low, with the cumulative level expected at around 350 million cubic metres (mcm) at the end of March. This is at least 300 mcm lower than the same period in recent years.

* Day-ahead gas was down 2.25 pence at 53.50 p/therm

* The system is oversupplied, with demand forecast at around 359 mcm and flows at 397 mcm/day, National Grid (LSE: NG.L - news) data shows

* Day-ahead gas at the Dutch TTF hub inched up by 0.25 euro to 20.45 euros per megawatt hour

* The benchmark Dec (Shanghai: 600875.SS - news) -18 EU carbon contract up by 0.24 euro to 10.93 euros a tonne

* Thomson Reuters analyst view: http://emea1.apps.cp.extranet.thomsonreuters.biz/cms/?pageid=united-kingdom-gas. (Reporting by Nina Chestney)