UK GAS-Prices slide on strong supply, fewer exports, warm weather

LONDON, July 5 (Reuters) - British wholesale gas prices fell on Thursday as supplies from the North Sea were strong and exports slipped, leaving the system over-supplied at a time of low summer demand.

* Within-day contract was 0.90 pence lower at 55.75 pence per therm at 0750 GMT.

* Day-ahead gas was 0.70 pence lower at 56.00 p/therm.

* The gas system was over-supplied by 19.6 million cubic metres (mcm) even though projected demand was above seasonal norms at 182.3 mcm, with supplies seen at 201.9 mcm, according to National Grid (LSE: NG.L - news) data.

* Exports to Belgium through the IUK pipeline are expected to be lower by 10 mcm on Thursday at 45 mcm, contributing to the over-supply in Britain.

* Gas analysts at Thomson Reuters (Dusseldorf: TOC.DU - news) noted that the day-ahead gas price had risen 3 p/therm since Friday to a level that was curtailing the incentive to export supplies.

* "We expect upside momentum to end today. The system is heavily oversupplied and IUK is no longer at capacity," they said in a note. "In order to incentivise IUK exports back to capacity we expect DA (the day-ahead contract) to lose value against WDNW (week-day next week contract)."

* The week-day next week contract settled at 56.45 pence per therm on Wednesday and had not yet traded.

* Average temperatures across the country were expected at close to 20 degrees Celsius in the coming days.

* Such weather lowers gas-for-power demand because temperatures were warm enough to avoid heating but not hot enough to warrant air-conditioning.

* Providing a floor to prices was lower wind-power generation, forecast to peak at 2.16 gigawatts (GW) on Thursday, down from around 2.4 GW the day before. It will fall below 1 GW on Friday, according to Elexon data.

* Also supporting gas were coal and oil prices.

* European API2 2019 coal futures were close to five-year highs of $91.50 a tonne; crude oil prices remained above $77 a barrel after a report of tightening U.S. fuel inventories.

* Britain is currently set to get one liquefied natural gas tanker this month.

* One or two more cargoes may be heading to Britain later this month, but terminals have low stock levels so any new supplies would replenish stocks rather than translate into higher send-out rates.

* The August contract was 0.58 pence lower at 56.95 p/therm.

* Day-ahead gas at the Dutch TTF hub fell 0.2 euro to 22.15 euros per megawatt-hour.

* The benchmark Dec (Shanghai: 600875.SS - news) -18 EU carbon price was 0.09 euro lower at 15.43 euros a tonne. (Reporting By Sabina Zawadzki, editing by Larry King)