British wholesale gas prices rose on Aug. 7 as reduced Norwegian flows and expectations of lower temperatures created an undersupplied system, traders said.

The within-day gas price rose by £1.15 (US 2 cents) to £41.25 (US 54 cents) per therm at 11:10 CT. Day-ahead gas was up by £1.20 (US 2 cents) at £41.05 (US 54 cents) per therm.

Traders said Norwegian flows remained at low levels and there were forecasts of lower temperatures this week which was causing undersupply. Britain's gas system was undersupplied by 22.1 million cubic meters per day (MMcm/d), with demand forecast at 169.5 MMcm/d and supply at 147.4 MMcm/d, National Grid data shows.

Total gas supply from Norway to Britain remained low at 68 MMcm as an outage at Norway's Heimdal transportation hub curbed flows by 12.4 MMcm and the Langeled pipeline was at 32 MMcm, compared to 42 MMcm on Aug. 4. Britain's Hornsea gas storage site will undergo an outage from Aug. 28 until Sep. 18, reducing the daily withdrawal capacity by 67.04 gigawatts (GW).

The Sept. gas contract edged up by £.70 (US 1 cent) to £40.70 (US 53 cents) per therm. The day-ahead gas price at the Dutch TTF hub rose by EU€ .09 (US 11 cents) to 15.27€ (US$18) per megawatt-hour (MWh). The benchmark Dec-17 EU carbon contract fell 0.06€ (US 7 cents) to 5.29€ (US$6) a ton.