Natural gas prices in Europe have been moving lower today as current weather forecasts predict a shorter-than-expected cold spell and demand remains low.
According to Montel-Foreks, the Dutch TTF hub February futures contract was last down by EUR 0.40 to settle at EUR 31.95/MWh on the Ice Endex today from yesterday's close, after reaching EUR 33.60/MWh during the day.
The UK NBP hub equivalent was last trading 0.96 p lower at 79.75 p/th, according to Ice Futures data.
A trader said that strong supply and low demand amid a short-lived cold snap weighed on prices.
Temperatures in Germany, Europe's largest gas consumer, will average 3.7°C this week and 2.1°C above normal, according to Montel Energy Quantified (EQ) forecasts. Temperatures in the country will drop to -2.3 °C next week.
However, the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI) predicts that temperatures could rise 6°C above normal from January 15 and 1 to 2°C above normal from January 22.
On yesterday's trading day, the TTF spot gas price at PEGAS fell to a three-month low of EUR 27.50/MWh. Today, the spot gas price was set at 28.10 EUR/MWh.
