Gas for day-ahead delivery on the UK's NBP trading hub fell to a near 10-month low Friday morning on a large oversupply with demand falling overnight.
The within-day contract was valued at 55.00 pence/therm at 09:30 BST, down by 4.30 p/th from Thursday's close. The day-ahead price fell by 0.60 p/th to 57.65 p/th -- a price the contract has not closed a day's trading below since August 31 last year.
The system opened long by 43 million cubic meters with demand down from 197 million cu m on Thursday to 162 million cu m Friday, a market analyst said.
"Nominations show the decline in demand has been significant, notably with nominations for storage injections declining by 20 million cu m. Power burn has also come down 10 million cu m due to the ramping up of cheaper coal-fired generation after completion of maintenance," Platts' unit Bentek Energy said.
"It is likely injections will increase and supply from Norway will subside in order to balance the market."
By 09:30 BST, National Grid had forecast demand revised at 175 million cu m with the system 35 million cu m long.
On Thursday, Grid was expecting Friday's demand at 189 million cu m.
Gas flows from Norway via the Langeled pipeline were at 36 million cu m/day and rates through the St Fergus Total terminal rose from around 13 million cu m/d overnight to 24 million cu m/d.
The South Hook LNG terminal continued adding strongly to the system at 41 million cu m.
National Grid expects daily demand at around 194 million cu m at the beginning of the new week.
