UK GAS-Prices rise on Groningen cut, colder weather forecast

LONDON, Jan 11 (Reuters) - British wholesale gas prices rose on Thursday morning following a proposal to cut output at Dutch gas field Groningen and on expectations of colder temperatures. * Within-day gas rose by 0.85 pence to 53.00 pence per therm at 0857 GMT. * Day-ahead gas rose by 0.50 pence to 53.30 pence per therm. * On Wednesday afternoon, prices rose after Dutch gas company NAM proposed halting production at six points in the Groningen gas field and lowering overall production after an earthquake this week. * Britain imports gas from the Netherlands through the BBL (Shenzhen: 002776.SZ - news) pipeline, so a potential reduction in Dutch gas flows can push up prices in the British market. * The Dutch State Supervision of Mines will give its first reaction to the NAM proposals this afternoon, a spokeswoman said, without specifying a time. * The regulator will also give a timeframe for its final decision. * February gas rose by 0.60 p to 54.75 p/therm. * Demand is forecast at 332 million cubic metres (mcm) and flows at 355 mcm/day, leaving the system oversupplied by 23 mcm, National Grid (LSE: NG.L - news) data shows. * Analysts at Thomson Reuters (Dusseldorf: TOC.DU - news) said flows from Norway remain close to pipeline maximum capacity and are expected to stay at that level barring any unplanned outages. * Peak wind generation is forecast to increase to 6.5 gigawatts (GW) on Friday from 1.2 GW on Thursday, Elexon data shows, which should reduce gas-for-power demand. * However, from Monday temperatures are forecast to fall which should raise demand for heating. * In the Dutch gas market, the day-ahead gas price at the TTF hub declined by 0.03 euro to 19.40 euros per megawatt hour (MWh). * The benchmark Dec (Shanghai: 600875.SS - news) -17 EU carbon contract was edged down by 0.01 euro to 7.88 euros a tonne. * Thomson Reuters analyst view: http://emea1.apps.cp.extranet.thomsonreuters.biz/cms/?pageid=united-kingdom-gas (Reporting by Nina Chestney)