European spot gas prices drifted lower Monday, with the Dutch TTF next day contract trading below Eur22.00/MWh, despite a slight drop in temperatures as healthy storage stocks and gas exports left the region well-supplied.
Day-ahead gas contract in the Netherlands' TTF trading hub was last seen trading at Eur21.80/MWh at midday Monday, after changing hands at an intra-day low of Eur21.75/MWh.
In Germany, the day-ahead gas on NetConnect hub fell to Eur22.20/MWh, from Friday's closing price of Eur22.45/MWh. The neighboring German GASPOOL spot contract was also trading lower at Eur22.05/MWh, down 25 euro cent from the previous close.
The French PEG Nord gas for next day delivery shed 0.5 euro in value and was trading at Eur22.05/MWh.
Temperatures in Europe, which dipped below norms over the weekend, are likely to last until Wednesday and turn milder by Thursday, forecaster CustomWeather said.
Despite the slight drop in temperatures, Dutch residential LDZ demand held steady at 62 million cubic meters/day of gas Monday, Bentek Energy data showed.
Meanwhile, German storage sites were 60% full, with stock levels having changed very little in recent weeks, Bentek said.
On the supply side, there were no disruption to Russian gas flows to western Europe from recent events in Ukraine, while Gassco data showed Norwegian exports to the continent steady at 131.4 million cu m/d at 1230 GMT.
Contracts on the curve also edged lower, in line with the weak prompt market. The TTF front-month April gas price was seen at Eur22.25/MWh, down from Friday's close of Eur22.60/MWh, while the Cal 2015 contract was valued 20 euro cents below last week's close at Eur24.55/MWh.
