UK GAS-Prices slip on oversupply, export route shutdown

June 19 (Reuters) - British wholesale gas prices slipped on Tuesday morning, as the shutdown of the country's main gas export pipeline contributed to an oversupplied market.

* Day-ahead gas price down 0.55 pence at 54.85p/therm by 0755 GMT.

* Traders said the shutdown of the Interconnector (IUK) pipeline to Belgium until June 28 for maintenance meant any excess gas was trapped in the country leading to oversupply.

* Gas system oversupplied by 7.8 million cubic metres (mcm) a day, with demand forecast at 133.2 mcm/day and flows at 141 mcm/day, National Grid (LSE: NG.L - news) data showed.

* Analysts said the IUK shutdown meant some excess gas was being injected into Britain's gas storage sites.

* "By the end of IUK maintenance we expect 676 mcm in MRS (medium range storage), up from around 320 mcm at the start of maintenance," analysts at Thomson Reuters (Dusseldorf: TOC.DU - news) said in a daily research note.

* Further out on the curve prices also slipped.

* July contract down 0.15 p at 55.00 p/therm.

* August contract down 0.65 p at 55.75 p/therm.

* Day-ahead gas price at the Dutch TTF hub down 0.3 euro at 22.25 euros per megawatt-hour.

* Benchmark Dec-18 EU carbon contract down 0.13 euro at 14.47 euros per tonne. (Reporting by Susanna Twidale; Editing by Mark Potter)